Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario (2020)

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario throughout 2020.

Timeline January On January 23, the first presumptive case in Canada was admitted to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and placed into a negative pressure chamber. The patient, a male in his 50s who travelled between Wuhan and Guangzhou before returning to Toronto on January 22, contacted emergency services following rapid onset symptoms. The presumption of infection in the patient was made after a rapid test was done at Public Health Ontario's Toronto laboratory, and was announced on January 25. Final testing conducted at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba confirmed the presumptive case on January 27. Authorities said that the patient was experiencing respiratory problems but was in stable condition. His condition later improved and he was released from hospital on January 31.

On January 27, the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario announced the man's wife as the second presumptive case. Officials reported that she was in good condition and that she was asymptomatic.

On January 31, the third case in Ontario (and the fourth case in Canada) was reported in the city of London. Officials said that the individual, a woman in her twenties and a student at University of Western Ontario, returned from Wuhan on January 23. She was asymptomatic and had tested negative at first, but additional advanced testing confirmed that the woman had low levels of the virus in her system. Officials said that the individual wore a mask during her voyage and she voluntarily entered self-isolation upon her return, making a full recovery after two or three days. On the same day, the Government of Ontario reported that 17 cases were under investigation within its provincial jurisdiction. Officials said that most of the individuals under investigation were awaiting results while in self-isolation at home. As of January 30, the associate medical officer of Ontario said that the province had conducted a total of 67 tests with 38 negative results. Officials said that all possible cases—including previous negative results—were being retested as additional assessments become available.

February CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario was used as a quarantine facility for repatriated Canadians since February 7. By March 24, 13 positive cases for the virus of the repatriated citizens at CFB Trenton were reported.

On February 23, one more presumptive case was confirmed in Ontario. The samples were sent to the National Microbiology Lab for further testing.

On February 24, a fourth presumptive case in Ontario was announced of a woman in her 20s who presented to a hospital on February 21 with symptoms after travelling to Wuhan. The woman was tested locally with a positive test result and the sample was sent to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. On February 24, health officials in Ontario stated that all three previous cases in Ontario were "resolved", which means patients had two consecutive negative test results 24 hours apart and that the "system was working".

On February 26, a Toronto woman with a history of traveling to Iran tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in Canada to 12.

On February 27, Canada confirmed the first human-to-human transmission in Toronto, the husband of the woman who had travelled to Iran, bringing the total cases in the country to 13.

On February 28, two positive cases were reported in Ontario, bringing the total number of cases in Canada to 16. One of them had traveled to Iran while the other had visited Egypt.

On February 29, Ontario confirmed one case in York Region and two cases in Durham Region, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 11.

March

Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Hospitalizations Sources New Total New Total New Total Total ICU Ventilators 1 4 15 - - - - - - - 2 3 18 - - - - - - - 3 2 20 - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - 5 3 23 - - - - - - - 6 5 28 - - - - - - - 7 - - - - - - - - - 8 4 32 - - - - - - - 9 3 35 - - - - - - - 10 2 27 5 5 - - - - - 11 5 42 0 5 - - - - - 12 18 60 0 5 - - - - - 13 19 79 0 5 - - 2 - - 14 24 103 0 5 - - - - - 15 42 145 0 5 - - - - - 16 32 177 0 5 - - - - - 17 13 190 0 5 0 1 - - - 18 25 214 0 5 0 1 - - - 19 43 251 0 5 1 2 - - - 20 60 311 0 5 0 2 - - - 21 59 368 1 6 1 3 1 - - 22 48 425 2 8 2 5 - - - 23 78 503 0 8 1 6 23 - - 24 85 588 0 8 2 8 50 17 7 25 100 688 0 8 5 13 40 17 15 26 170 858 0 8 2 15 29 29 20 27 135 993 0 8 3 18 60 43 32 28 151 1,117 0 8 1 19 0 63 46 29 211 1,355 0 8 4 23 - - - 30 351 1,706 - 431 10 33 - 100 61 31 260 1,966 - 534 0 33 291 125 82

On March 5, Ontario reported three more cases of the virus, for a total of 23 in the province, with cases in Toronto, Kitchener, and Mississauga being reported. The three cases came from Iran, Italy, and the Grand Princess cruise ship, respectively. It was also announced that another case in Ontario was resolved.

On March 6, five cases (two imported from each of Iran and the Grand Princess, and one from Las Vegas) were reported, bringing the total number to 28.

On March 8, four more cases were reported to have been imported from Colorado, Washington, D.C., France, and Germany; bringing the total to 32.

On March 9, Ontario confirmed two new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 34. They are an octogenarian and a septuagenarian from Toronto having travelled to Iran, where cases of COVID-19 had multiplied in recent weeks.

On March 10, a close contact of a previous case and a man who travelled to Switzerland were confirmed as Ontario's 35th and 36th case, respectively. Later the same day, a Sudbury man who attended the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto on March 2–3 was confirmed as the 37th positive case, and the first in northern Ontario.

On March 11, a 40-year-old man who recently travelled to Austria was confirmed as the first coronavirus case in Ottawa. The overall coronavirus case number in Ontario rose to 42 on the same day. On March 12, 17 new cases were confirmed including a baby boy who had recently visited the North York General Hospital in Toronto. That day, the total number of cases in Ontario increased to 59. On the same day Ontario announced that all publicly funded schools will be closed from March 14, 2020, to April 5, 2020, or extending March break from its end on March 22 to April 5. On March 13, health officials reported 19 additional cases, bringing the number of cases to 79, and on the 14th, 24 more, making the total 103.

On March 17, Ontario announced its first death with COVID-19, a man in his 70s in Barrie. Premier Ford declared a provincial state of emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. and began to order the closure of certain businesses and facilities.

On March 18, an undisclosed player for the Ottawa Senators National Hockey League team was tested positive. That day, 23 new cases were confirmed in Ontario which brings the total number of cases to 212. A state of emergency was also declared in Peel Region and Simcoe County by Warden George Cornell. On March 20, Acting Mayor Jesse Helmer declared a state of emergency in the City of London.

On March 23, a state of emergency was declared in Toronto by Mayor John Tory, in York Region by Chair Wayne Emmerson, and in Halton Region by Chair Gary Carr. The following day, a state of emergency was also declared in Durham Region by Chair John Henry and in Kawartha Lakes by Mayor Andy Letham.

On March 25, Ford and Finance Minister Rod Phillips introduced a $17-billion response package that includes an influx of cash for the health sector, direct payments to parents and tax breaks for businesses.

On March 26, a municipal state of emergency was declared in Kingston by Mayor Bryan Paterson due to two new cases of the virus announced by KFL&A Public Health. Three recent cases in the region had reported no prior close contact with known infected persons, causing health officials to conclude that community transmission is present in the region, and closures of several medical clinics.

In response to the anticipated increase in patients requiring critical care, the Ontario government announced on March 27 that over 3,000 ventilators were ready to be deployed in Ontario (compared to the current capacity of approximately 1,300 critical care beds with ventilators and 43 patients requiring critical care as of March 27).

On March 31, Mayor of Toronto John Tory announced that the city would cancel all city-led major events, festivals (including Toronto's Pride Parade, which was scheduled to take place on June 28), conferences, permits and cultural programs until June 30. Tory clarified that this does not necessarily restrict professional sporting events, but they are still covered under provincial restrictions on public gatherings.

From the initial case on January 23 to March 18, over half of the reported cases are reported in Toronto (220 cases), of which 11 are under investigation for community transmission. Hamilton reported 23 cases, Ottawa reported 19 cases, Durham Region reported 18 cases and Waterloo Region reporting 14 cases.

April

Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Hospitalizations Sources New Total New Total New Total Total ICU Ventilators 1 426 2,392 - 689 4 37 331 145 98 2 401 2,793 150 831 16 53 405 167 112 3 462 3,255 - 1,032 14 67 462 194 140 4 375 3,630 - 1,200+ 2 23 506 196 152 5 408 4,038 230 1,449 25 110 523 200 154 6 309 4,347 - 1,624 13 132 589 216 160 7 379 4,726 - 1,802 21 153 614 233 187 8 550 5,276 - 2,074 21 174 605 246 195 9 483 5 759 - 2,305 26 200 632 264 214 10 478 6,237 - 2,574 22 222 673 260 217 11 411 6,648 - 2,853 31 253 691 257 215 12 411 6,648 - 2,853 31 253 691 257 215 13 421 7,470 - 3,357 17 291 760 263 203 14 483 7,953 211 3,568 43 334 769 255 199 15 494 8,447 334 3,902 51 385 759 254 188 16 514 8,961 - 4,194 38 423 807 248 200 17 564 9,525 362 4,556 55 478 829 245 200 18 485 10,010 - - 36 514 828 250 197 19 568 10,578 - +5,200 39 568 809 247 196 20 606 11,184 - 5,515 31 584 802 247 193 21 551 11,735 - 5,806 38 622 859 250 194 22 510 12,245 415 6,221 37 659 878 243 192 23 634 12,879 - 6,680 54 713 887 233 185 24 640 13,519 407 7,087 50 763 910 243 193 25 476 13,995 - 7,509 48 811 925 245 195 26 437 14,432 - 8,000 24 835 938 252 195 27 424 14,856 - 8,525 57 892 945 241 191 28 525 15,381 - 8,964 59 951 957 239 187 29 347 15,728 - 9,612 45 996 977 235 186 30 459 16,187 - 10,205 86 1,082 999 233 181

On April 2, Lakeridge Health declared an outbreak of COVID-19 at Lakeridge Health Oshawa in Oshawa, and announced that one of its in-patient units would be temporarily closed after a hospital-acquired case of COVID-19 was transmitted to a health care worker treating the patient.

The next day, models were released which projected that public health measures in the province prevented an estimated 220,000 cases and 4,400 deaths up to that point. Between 3,000 and 15,000 deaths related to COVID-19 were predicted with the current public health measures over the course of the pandemic, compared to a total projected 100,000 deaths if no action were taken, and if further measures are taken, models showed projections as low as 12,500 additional cases and 200 additional deaths by the end of April. The models projected that by April 30 there would be 80,000 cases and 1600 deaths under the current interventions. In addition, the government projected a peak use of ICU beds of 1200 beds by April 18 under their best-case scenario (with over 3000 ICU beds required under the worst-case scenario by April 30).

On April 9, Ontario reported its first death of a healthcare worker, a man in his fifties in Brampton.

On April 14 during an emergency session, the Legislative Assembly voted to extend the provincial state of emergency through May 12.