Coronavirus: Latest developments in the Greater Toronto Area on March 8

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

The change in restrictions came into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Monday for Toronto and Peel Region which moved into the grey zone and for North Bay which moved into the red zone of the province’s COVID-19 framework. The stay-at-home order for all three regions was also lifted.

Here’s what you can and can’t do under Ontario’s grey lockdown level of restrictions:

Toronto has launched its own website and hotline for booking COVID-19 vaccines as it waits for a provincial system to make its debut.

Those include people aged 80 or older, some health-care workers and Indigenous adults.

The City of Toronto will be opening up three of its mass immunization clinics on March 17 due to an increase in COVID-19 vaccine supply.

Clinics at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Scarborough Town Centre and Toronto Congress Centre will be open for residents aged 80 years and older.

They will operate seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Greater Toronto Area malls are using capacity tracking technology and staff stationed at doors to abide by COVID-19 rules that went into effect in parts of the region Monday.

Under provincial regulations, non-essential stores and malls in Toronto and neighbouring Peel Region are allowed to open, but required to keep capacity at 25 per cent or below.

Oxford Properties says it has staff at designated Yorkdale, Square One and Scarborough Town Centre entrances to stop people from entering when capacity has been reached.

Ontario reported a total of 1,631 new coronavirus cases on Monday.

Of those:

• 568 were in Toronto
• 322 were in Peel Region
• 119 were in York Region
• 68 were in Durham Region
• 51 were in Halton Region

Ontario is reporting 1,631 new coronavirus cases on Monday, marking the largest single-day increase in over a month. The provincial total now stands at 309,927.

However, in an update late Monday morning, the Ontario government said the case count “is higher than expected due to a data catch-up process related to the provincial CCM system.”

In a press conference Monday afternoon, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, said the actual number of new cases is likely closer to 1,300.

The death toll in the province has risen to 7,077 as 10 more deaths were recorded.

Resolved cases increased by 994 from the previous day. The government said 38,063 tests were processed in the last 24 hours.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, the province has administered 912,486 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 21,882 in the last day.

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,748 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which remained the same as Sunday. Eleven virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.

There are 84 current outbreaks in homes, which is a unchanged from the previous day.

The ministry also indicated there are currently 55 active cases among long-term care residents and 139 active cases among staff — both unchanged in the last 24 hours.

Government figures show there have been a total of 9,233 school-related COVID-19 cases in Ontario to date. This is an increase of 95 more cases in the last day — 84 student cases and 11 staff cases.

The COVID-19 cases are currently from 734 out of 4,828 schools in the province. Thirty schools in Ontario are currently closed as a result of positive cases, the government indicated.

There have been a total of 2,821 confirmed cases within child care centres and homes — an increase of 34 (20 new child cases and 14 staff cases). Out of 5,268 child care centres in Ontario, 162 currently have cases and 40 centres are closed.

— With files from The Canadian Press