Ontario says it will lift its COVID-19 vaccine certificate system on March 1, and on that date, the province will also lift capacity limits in all indoor settings.
Masking requirements will stay in place for now, but the province says a timeline to lift them will come later.
Premier Doug Ford says with public health indicators improving, the province can fast-track its plan to lift COVID-19 restrictions, including moving the next step of its reopening plan up to Thursday instead of next Monday.
On that day, social gathering limits will increase to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors, while capacity limits will be removed in places such as restaurants, bars, gyms and movie theatres.
The province is also announcing that youth aged 12 to 17 can book booster doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as of 8 a.m. on Friday.
Ontario is not the only one that is lifting the requirement to show proof of vaccination as beginning today, residents in Saskatchewan will be able to enter most businesses without revealing their status.
The Saskatchewan vaccine passport system, which was brought in last October, ended at 12:01 a.m. today.
Premier Scott Moe says the policy helped increase vaccination rates in the province, but suggests its costs now outweigh its benefits.
The province’s chief medical health officer says Saskatchewan has reached its peak during the Omicron wave, but he expects hospitalizations will continue rising for the next week before tapering off.
The province has two remaining health orders in place that require people to wear masks in indoor public places and to self-isolate when they test positive for COVID-19.
Both of those orders will expire at the end of the month.
CHEK News
