Coronavirus: Latest developments in the Greater Toronto Area on March 7

Here are the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in the Greater Toronto Area for Sunday.

Sunday marks the last day of the stay-at-home order for Toronto and Peel Region as the municipalities prepare to enter the grey-lockdown zone of the province’s coronavirus response framework on Monday.

The move will allow for the loosening of some restrictions, namely permitting retailers to open for in-person shopping with capacity restrictions.

Bars and restaurants must remain closed to in-person dining, and most fitness facilities must also stay closed.

2:59 What you need to know as Toronto, Peel head into grey zone

The changes come into effect at 12:01 a.m.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto has launched an initiative calling on the Ontario government to amend capacity restrictions for places of worship located in grey-lockdown zones of the provincial coronavirus response framework.

The “Open Ontario to Worship” campaign calls on residents to send an email to their local MPP, which will be shared with Premier Doug Ford and requests that the government allow all places of worship to open based on a percentage of pre-pandemic capacity.

“Places of worship, regardless of whether they seat 100 or 1,000 people, must remain at a hard cap of 10 people,” Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, wrote in his “call to action” letter, in reference to areas in grey-lockdown.

“Next week, a funeral at St. Michael’s Cathedral (capacity 1,500) will be capped at 10 people, while around the corner dozens can enter the local liquor store and thousands will visit the Eaton Centre. This makes no sense.”

As cities prepare for an expanded COVID-19 vaccine distribution, the call to increase the accessibility of doses continues to grow.

City councillor Shelley Carroll is putting forward a motion to Toronto council this week asking for clinics to expand their hours of operation and to consider offering the COVID-19 vaccine 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Carroll said people need more details when it comes to the city’s plans.

2:05 City of Toronto ready to administer COVID-19 vaccines 24/7 as long as supply allows

Three major health-care worker unions are launching a campaign to press the Ontario government for increased wages and better access to personal protective equipment.

The unions say the campaign will launch on Monday in workplaces across the province ahead of the Ontario budget, which is expected to be delivered later this month.

Ontario reported a total of 1,299 new coronavirus cases on Sunday.

Of those:

• 329 were in Toronto
• 192 were in Peel Region
• 116 were in York Region
• 58 were in Durham Region
• 39 were in Halton Region

Ontario reported 1,299 cases of the novel coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 308,296.

A total of 290,840 COVID-19 cases are considered resolved, which is up by 1,105 and is 94.3 per cent of all confirmed cases.

Fifteen additional deaths were also reported on Sunday, bringing the provincial death toll to 7,067.

Provincial figures showed there are 606 people hospitalized with the virus (down by 14), with 273 in intensive care (down by five), 179 of whom are on a ventilator (down by two).

As of 8 p.m. Saturday, 890,604 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 30,192 over 24 hours. That’s down compared to the previous day when a record 39,698 doses were administered over 24 hours.

So far, 271,807 people in the province are considered to be fully vaccinated.

— With files from Katherine Ward and The Canadian Press