Hamilton area and Niagara have to wait as COVID-19 restrictions eased for much of the province

Hamilton, the Niagara region, Haldimand-Norfolk and Burlington will have to wait before fully entering Stage 2 of Ontario's plan to loosen COVID-19 restrictions.

Premier Doug Ford spoke to media on Monday and said public health is taking a regional approach, which would allow some parts of the province to resume, while others hold off until their numbers lower.

Most of the current restrictions will stay in place in these regions around the GTA until the province sees improvement in local COVID-19 cases.

However there will be some easing in the area: On Friday, people in Hamilton and across Ontario will be able to meet in groups of 10. They'll also be able to visit all places of worship, so long as the building has physical distancing in place and is operating at 30 per cent capacity.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said criteria set by the province's chief medial officer of health and meetings with local public health officials ultimately influenced the decision to hold back Hamilton and other regions.

Elliot explained a progress report will come each Monday for the regions waiting to enter the next stage. Lower rates of transmission, increased capacity in hospitals and continued progress in testing are examples of what regions like Hamilton would need to reach Stage 2.

Ford hopes people will be patient.

"We're very close to reopening the rest of the province to Stage 2," he explained.

Ford added that the next stage would allow people to "resume many parts of their daily life." Stage 2 would allow people to attend places of worship, get haircuts, enter shopping malls and more as of Friday at 12:01 a.m.

Here's the full document outling the government's Stage 2 plan: 

Mayor Fred Eisenberger told CBC News in a statement that he appreciates the "cautious approach."

"As Hamilton remains in Stage 1 for the time being, we must remain patient, diligent and open up a little bit more slowly. We want to restart our economy as soon as possible, but only when it is safe to do so," he said.

Hamilton Public Health provided a similar comment to CBC News.

Hamilton reported 125 active cases of COVID-19 as of Monday morning. There have been a total of 742 cases, seven of which are probable cases. The virus has killed 41 people, with the latest death coming this weekend. An 88-year-old woman died in hospital on June 5. She previously stayed at Rosslyn Retirement Residence.

There are 38 people in hospital and 576 people have recovered from the virus. The only remaining outbreak is at Hamilton General Hospital's COVID-19 inpatient unit, which has infected 10 people.

Brant

Brant/Brantford will enter Stage 2. It has just six active cases of COVID-19. It has reported 113 cases of the virus, but 103 have recovered. The virus has killed four people. None of those infected are in the hospital.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand-Norfolk reported 225 active cases of COVID-19. A total of 395 people have been infected with the virus in the region. 139 have recovered and 31 have died.

Halton

Halton reported 91 active cases of COVID-19. It has seen 745 cases (673 confirmed, 72 probable). Of those, 629 people have recovered and 25 people have died. 

Burlington has 16 active cases of the virus. 142 residents are known to have had COVID-19 (127 confirmed, 15 probable), of which 119 people have recovered and seven have died.

Niagara

Niagara region is reporting 87 active COVID-19 cases. Of the 717 people confirmed to have the virus, 569 have recovered and 61 have died. There are two institutional outbreaks.