COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario
(clockwise from top) An empty Yonge–Dundas Square in Toronto A No Frills with empty shelves due to panic buying A sign thanking healthcare workers in Unionville in Markham Sticker given to people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine in Belleville A PPE donation drive at North York General Hospital A highway sign in Ottawa
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	Ontario, Canada
First outbreak	Wuhan, Hubei, China
Index case	Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto
Arrival date	January 25, 2020 (4 years, 3 months and 2 days)
Confirmed cases	1,123,709[a]
Active cases	16,241
Suspected cases‡	2,500,000 - 5,000,000 (Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table)[3]
Recovered	1,095,221
Deaths	12,247
Fatality rate	1.09%
Vaccinations	12,530,724 (84.52%) (total population with at least one dose) 11,914,979 (80.36%) (total population fully vaccinated) 6,773,871 (45.69%) (total population with additional dose)
Government website
Government of Ontario
‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada was announced on January 25, 2020, involving a traveller who had recently returned to Toronto from travel in China, including Wuhan.^[4] Ontario has had the largest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among Canada's provinces and territories, but due to having the largest population, only ranks sixth adjusted per capita.^[5] Ontario surpassed one million lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on January 24, 2022; one day before the anniversary of the first confirmed case on January 25, 2020.

On March 17, 2020, a state of emergency was declared by Premier Doug Ford.^[6] This included the gradual implementation of restrictions on gatherings and commerce.

From late spring to early summer, the majority of the deaths were residents of long-term care homes.^[7] In late April 2020, one out of five of all long-term care homes in Ontario had an outbreak^[7] and 70 percent to 80 percent of all COVID-19 deaths had been in retirement and long-term care homes.^[8] Following medical assistance and observation by the Canadian Armed Forces, the military released a report detailing "a number of medical, professional and technical issues" amongst for-profit long-term-care homes including neglect, lack of equipment and allegations of elder abuse.^[9]

Following a decline in cases, in May through August 2020, the province instituted a three-stage plan to lift economic restrictions. The state of emergency was lifted on July 24, 2020.^[10]

In early September 2020, the province showed a significant increase in new cases, beginning the second wave of the pandemic.^[11] Ontario began to reintroduce some restrictions and in early November, created a new five-tiered colour-coded "response framework".

From late November to mid-December 2020, the province began placing regions in rolling lockdowns, culminating in a province-wide shutdown beginning Boxing Day.^[12] In the post-winter holiday surge of new infections, Premier Ford declared Ontario's second state of emergency on January 12, 2021,^[13] which was lifted February 10, 2021,^[14] and a stay-at-home order effective January 14, 2021,^[13] which was phased out regionally between February 10 and March 8, 2021.^[14]

Following Health Canada's approval of various COVID-19 vaccines, widespread plans for vaccinations began during the week of December 14, 2020.^[15] Early vaccination efforts were highly criticized and a shortage of vaccine supply in late January and early February slowed immunization rollout significantly for a number of weeks.^[16] The rollout continued to be highly criticized for lack of equitability and clarity, which was significantly helped by volunteer groups like Vaccine Hunters Canada.

In mid-March 2021, the Ontario Hospital Association, and Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health^[17] declared the province was experiencing a third wave of the virus.^[18][19] Following the third wave surge, ICU numbers in late March climbed to their highest numbers since the beginning of the pandemic.^[20] On April 1, 2021, the government announced a second province-wide shutdown beginning April 3.^[21] Ford later issued a third state of emergency and stay-at-home order for the province beginning April 8, 2021,^[22] and ordered all schools to close on April 12, 2021 (public schools were in the middle of spring break, delayed from March to April).^[23] In order to ensure greater decline in the number of reported daily infections, the stay-at-home order was extended yet again to June 2, 2021, at which point it expired.^[24] Following the expiration of the stay-at-home order, on May 20, 2021, the provincial government released a three-step roadmap to reopen the economy based on vaccination rate goals.^[25]

In late summer 2021, the province began preparing for a fourth wave of the virus, which was now largely affecting unvaccinated individuals.^[26] After hitting a stand-still on vaccination rates, on September 1, 2021, Ontario became the fourth province to implement a proof of vaccination mandate for various non-essential functions, which went into effect on September 22, 2021.^[27] In January 2022, Ontario entered a partial lockdown (termed as a rollback to "Step 2" of the previous roadmap) due to record cases caused by Omicron variant, ordering the closure of most non-essential indoor facilities.

Face mask mandates and vaccination mandates were lifted on March 21, 2022, due to the decreasing number of new cases, unofficially ending the pandemic.^[28]

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