Ottawa restaurants, gyms can reopen this weekend

Restaurants, bars and gyms in Ottawa will be allowed to reopen this weekend as the city emerges from four weeks under modified Stage 2 pandemic restrictions,Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday.

Ottawa and the neighbouring Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) are now graded orange, accordinga new colour-coded provincial pandemic scale.

Thatmeans a return to rules similar to thosein place from mid-July until mid-October: indoor dining can resume at Ottawa restaurants, but certain restrictions, such as limited seating capacity and a 10 p.m. closing time, will remain in place. Gyms, movie theatres and performing arts venues will also be allowed to reopen undercertain restrictions.

Private gatherings of up to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors can resume, as can supervisedpublic events of up to 50 indoors and 100 outdoors.

The other four eastern Ontario health units are green.

• Read the province's full explanation

The modified Stage 2 closuresin effect in Ottawa, Toronto and Peel regioncame into effect Oct. 10. York Region later faced similar restrictions. With the exception of Toronto, which will wait until the weekend of Nov. 14, those regions will now move to orange.

28 new cases in Ottawa

The capitalis reporting just 28 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday,less than three percent of the 1,050 new cases reported across Ontario a one-day pandemic record for the province.

The majority, about 80 per cent, are in the Toronto area.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has declared58 more cases as resolvedand isreporting twomore deaths. About two-thirds of Ottawa's latest cases are people over 40, including eight over80.

A total of 7,225 Ottawa residents have now tested positive for COVID-19, including718 known active cases, 6,177 resolved cases and 330 deaths.

Fifty-two patients with COVID-19 are currently in Ottawa hospitals for treatment, including four in intensive care.

Currently, 2.8 per cent of COVID-19 tests in Ottawa are coming back positive, and OPH learns of those results within 48 hours 78 per cent of the time.

Elsewhere, the Outaouais has 31 new cases of COVID-19, according to Quebec health officials.