Premier Doug Ford is pleading with people who live in Ontario’s COVID-19 “hotspots” to get tested for the virus — but officials won’t specify which neighbourhoods have been hardest hit.
Premier Doug Ford is pleading with people who live in Ontario’s COVID-19 “hotspots” to get tested for the virus — but officials won’t specify which neighbourhoods have been hardest hit.
Ford mentioned the province’s coronavirus hotspots multiple times during his daily news conference Monday. He said the government is able to measure them by postal code, and that some areas are “lighting up like a Christmas tree.”
“We want to encourage people in the hotspots … please get tested,” Ford said.
But that data has not been made public. CBC News has requested a breakdown of cases by postal code, but Hayley Chazan, spokesperson for the provincial minister of health, would only say that Ontario’s hardest-hit regions are in Toronto, Peel Region and Windsor-Essex County.
Ford elaborated slightly Monday afternoon, saying “parts” of those regions were most affected. He also mentioned parts of Brampton, north Etobicoke and Scarborough.
According to the latest data from the province, Toronto-area public health units account for 64.8 per cent of Ontario’s cases.
WATCH | Premier Doug Ford discusses Ontario’s COVID-