Ontario Is Loosening Restrictions At The End Of January & Here's What You Need To Know

Premier Doug Ford has been dropping hints left and right this week about some "good news" for the province, and now it's official. Ontario is lifting some restrictions on indoor dining, gyms and so much more, and they will start to ease up at the end of the month.

"The evidence tells us that the measures we put in place to blunt transmission of Omicron are working,” Ford said in the announcement.

"We can be confident that the worst is behind us and that we are now in a position to cautiously and gradually ease public health measures. While February will continue to present its own challenges, given current trends, these are challenges we are confident we can manage."

Starting on January 31, at 12:01 a.m., indoor dining will be able to open up again at restaurants, bars and other food or drink places without dance floors for diners, but limited to a 50% capacity. Currently, only takeout, delivery and drive-thru are available to Ontarians.

Not only will Ontarians be able to eat inside restaurants again, but the following services and venues will also be allowed to operate at 50% capacity:

• Shopping malls
• Retailers, including grocery stores and pharmacies
• Movie theatres
• Meeting and event spaces
• Non-spectator areas of sports and recreational fitness facilities, including gyms
• Amusement parks, water parks and recreational amenities
• Museums, galleries, zoos, aquariums and other similar places
• Casinos, bingo halls and other gaming venues
• Religious services, rites and ceremonies

Other spectator areas like those at concert venues and sporting events can also run at 50% seated capacity up to a maximum of 500 people. Private social gathering limits will also increase to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.

In the coming months, Ontario will gradually ease up on the public health measures in place, like scrapping capacity limits where proof of vaccination is required to get in and upping social gathering limits, too.

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said earlier this month that he couldn't "guarantee" that the restrictions lift as scheduled on January 26.

Ontario moved into the modified version of Step Two back on January 5, which shut down indoor dining, cinemas and gyms to the public due to concerns about the Omicron variant.

Health Canada has a robust website with all the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines and can answer any questions you may have.

This article's right-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.