Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed Monday that seven more regions would move onto Stage 3 if the province's economic reopening plan, while holding back Toronto, Peel and Windsor-Essex.
"Please be patient, we'll get there very shortly," he said, announcing that Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand-Norfolk, Sarnia-Lambton and York Region will move onto Stage 3 this Friday.
It means residents in those areas will be able to dine in restaurants and work out at a fitness centre or gym, while gathering limits will increase to 50 people indoors and 100 people for the outdoors.
The government has long said it wants four full weeks of Stage 2 data before Ontario's larger regions move on to Stage 3, with Toronto and Peel hitting that mark on Wednesday.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said along with the data, they're also closely following how the public is following public health guidelines.
"We're going to continue to watch how things go in other areas, areas that have already opened to Stage 3 and then we'll have to make changes if necessary," she said.
Concern over bars opening in the GTA recently prompted both the city of Toronto and the Ontario Medical Association to speak out.
The OMA issued a news release Friday, suggesting the provincial government "rethink" its allowance of bars to reopen, saying they carry significant risk.
Toronto Mayor John Tory is requesting stricter rules for bars, such as requiring customers be seated at all times unless walking in and out, going to the washroom or paying the bill, whereas current rules only apply to eating and drinking.
The city also wants customer logs, table numbers, additional capacity restrictions and mandatory face coverings for staff and patrons.
"They're all great valid points," Ford said, adding the province will consider them, while giving support to local public health officers who wish to implement their own stricter rules.
"By all means, if you want to do that, you have the power to do it," he said.
Ford also announced he expects Canada's new contact tracing app to be launched on Friday, after delays as the federal government has been trying to get more provinces to sign off on it.
"To be the most helpful in our efforts to fight COVID-19, the app needs to be accessible and used by as many Canadians as possible. That’s why we continue to work with the provinces and territories on a voluntary national app that will be ready for download very soon," a Health Canada spokesperson said July 2.
Ontario reported 135 new cases in Ontario, but trends of younger people were on the rise, including 52 in the 20-39 range and 23 in the under-19 category, which Ford said he was shocked to see.
In Montreal as of Friday, public health officials had linked 30 cases to people in bars Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe also noted an uptick in younger cases in Ottawa.
"Suddenly the experience we're seeing in other jurisdictions is young people going out to bars, or private gatherings and so it wouldn't be unlikely that it's happening across other parts of Ontario," she said. "It's easy for people to forget that we're still in a pandemic and to go back to what they used to do."
Elliott said she understands young people may be dealing with "COVID fatigue" but pleaded with them to not fall back on public health guidelines.
"Please remember that as we're opening up the economy, it is more important than ever before to please follow the public health rules," she said.