Ontario sees 1,868 COVID-19 cases over 2 days as stay-at-home order lifts in some areas

© Evan Mitsui/CBC Ontario’s stay-at-home order is lifting in many parts of the province outside of the Greater Toronto Area today.

Ontario is reporting 1,868 new cases of COVID-19 from the last two days, while a stay-at-home order that had been in place since last month has been lifted in most parts of the province.

Health Minster Christine Elliott said Tuesday that the province is reporting 904 cases today, as well as 964 cases from the holiday Monday.

Elliott said there are 320 new cases reported in Toronto today, as well as 154 in Peel and 118 in York Region.

Testing numbers were well below capacity, with just 27,000 tests completed on Feb. 15, and 30,400 on Feb. 14.

Meanwhile, a stay-at-home order lifts for 27 Ontario public health units today.

Those areas will now return to the province’s COVID-19 colour-coded tiered ranking system used prior to the provincewide lockdown, which began on Boxing Day.

Toronto, Peel Region, York Region and North Bay Parry Sound are set to remain under the stay-at-home order until at least Feb. 22.

Niagara Region will be the only region in the grey-lockdown zone — the most strict level — which allows businesses to open at 25 per cent capacity.

The rest of the regions, most of them outside the Greater Toronto Area, fall elsewhere along the scale that moves from red — the second-most strict level — through green, with lighter restrictions on businesses and gatherings at each stage.

Three health units — Hastings Prince Edward; Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington; and Renfrew County — returned to the green zone of the framework last week.