The Prime Minister of Ontario (Canda) announced on Monday that the vaccine passport would be lifted from March 1 in his province, epicenter of the anti-sanitary measures challenge and “freedom convoys”, since the end of January.
“We’re going to drop passports,” Doug Ford said at a press conference.
I have said from the very beginning that the extraordinary measures we introduced during the pandemic would only be used for as long as they were absolutely necessary.
We are able to move forward and ease restrictions because of each and every one of you. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/GWehsIDk7H
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 14, 2022
Dug Ford added that from February 17, “all gauges” will be removed, “except in concert halls, theaters and sporting events, which will be capped at 50%”. “We are able to accelerate our reopening plan” thanks to the drop in hospitalizations and the number of cases, he said.
The Prime Minister explained this decision by the fact that a large majority of people were now vaccinated and also that the peak of the Omicron variant had now passed.
This lifting of health restrictions was the main demand of the protesters who had decided to block Ottawa, the federal capital located in Ontario, for more than two weeks.
A state of emergency had been declared in Ottawa
At the beginning of last week, in the face of demonstrations against health restrictions, the mayor of Ottawa announced the establishment of a state of emergency in the Canadian capital.
Dozens of trucks and hundreds of demonstrators had flocked to Ottawa and other major cities, such as Toronto or Quebec, to block the streets.
