The provincial government is telling Ontarians it is all hands on deck during the COVID-19 pandemic
Premier Doug Ford says he has been on the phone with multiple corporations that manufacture wipes and alcohol to see if they can help create more hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes.
“This goes back to world war two measures, we are asking manufacturers to step up and make a change on their assembly lines and make ventilators. Everything is on the table and we will do whatever it takes to get things moving forward. We are asking companies to make the transition with the distilleries asking them if they can convert over and use whatever bottle they want to bottle hand sanitizer, it can be in an alcohol bottle as long as it’s properly labelled,” Ford stressed.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says they are working on getting more ventilators in hospitals and health care facilities noting they are talking with auto parts manufacturers asking them to retool their assembly lines to make more.
“I want the people of Ontario to know that we are certainly aware that there are going to be tremendous pressures on our health care system and that we are building our capacity in terms of hospital beds, health care beds generally, and in ventilators. We’ve just increased in house supply by 300 ventilators,” Elliot noted.
As part of the province’s enhanced measures, the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services and ServiceOntario, is extending the validity period of driving products, services and health cards. These changes reduce the need for in-person visits to ServiceOntario, International Registration Plan offices and DriveTest centres during the COVID-19 outbreak, helping to promote social distancing and contain the spread of the virus.
These new regulations include extensions for driver licences, licence plate validation, Ontario Photo Cards, and Commercial Vehicle Operator Registration certificates, among others. Expiring and expired health cards will continue to provide access to health services.
The Ministry of Transportation is also automatically extending the due dates for medical or vision reports, which both reduces the need for in-person visits, but also ensures that patients do not need to visit their doctors, helping the health system to focus on containing COVID-19.
In Ontario’s legal system, all Tribunals Ontario in-person proceedings, including at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, Landlord and Tenant Board and Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, are postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date. Where feasible, alternative hearing options such as written and telephone hearings will be considered. Front-line counter services will be closed until further notice.
