Ontario government extends COVID-19 emergency orders

Premier Doug Ford holds his daily COVID-19 press briefing at Queen's Park in Toronto on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Russell - POOL

TORONTO — The Ontario government has extended its emergency orders again.

In a news release issued Thursday morning, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said Ontario still needs the tools to address the COVID-19 pandemic, even as new cases continue to go down.

"We've seen great progress in our fight against COVID-19 in recent weeks, but now is not the time to let our guard down," Jones said. "We must continue safely and gradually down the path to recovery while tackling the ongoing effects of this pandemic. We're conducting an ongoing review and assessment of all orders to determine if they are still necessary and will relax restrictions or lift orders when it is safe to do so."

The province says it will let some orders lapse, including one that allowed school boards to redeploy workers to health care facilities to respond to the pandemic.

It says there are ongoing reviews to determine which remaining emergency orders are necessary.

The emergency orders can be extended for up to 30 days at a time.