TORONTO — Mother’s Day gatherings contrary to physical distancing rules helped boost Ontario’s COVID-19 cases, the health minister said Monday, and those rising numbers plus concern over a large crowd at a Toronto park over the weekend are delaying any easing of those rules.
Ontario reported more than 400 new COVID-19 cases Monday for a fifth straight day, higher than the province has seen for several previous five-day periods.
That trend predates the province’s Stage 1 of reopening launched on May 19, Health Minister Christine Elliott said. “The increase in the number of cases that we’re seeing now in the last few days really relates back to the week before, with the Mother’s Day events and so on, people seeing families when they should