COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto

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The COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto is a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), localized in Toronto. Toronto is the most populous city in Canada, and the fourth most populous city in North America.

On January 23, 2020, the first identified case of COVID-19 in Canada during the pandemic was admitted to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. The individual was first described as showing fever and respiratory symptoms, however this was later confirmed as a presumptive positive case of COVID-19 on January 25, 2020.^[1][2] On March 17, 2020, the government of Ontario declared its first state of emergency during the pandemic,^[3] followed by Toronto mayor John Tory declaring a local state of emergency March 23, 2020.^[4] Initial restrictions preventing essential businesses from operating (such as the closure of indoor dining and personal care services) continued through until June 24, 2020, when the government of Ontario allowed Toronto to enter Stage 2 of reopening.^[5] Toronto introduced mask requirements at all public indoor settings on July 7, 2020.^[6] On July 31, 2020, Toronto was admitted into Stage 3 of reopening.^[7]

During the summer of 2020, the city saw a significant decline of new cases, where the city had as low as 246 active cases at one point that August. Along with the province of Ontario and other areas of Canada, cases began to steadily rise in late summer and early autumn. Toronto, Peel Region, York Region and Ottawa began to face restrictions based on rising viral spread and were initially knocked back into a modified Stage 2 tier until the province introduced a new colour-coded Response Framework for the province involving five tiers based on regional COVID-19 numbers. In early October 2020, Toronto Public Health became so overwhelmed by new cases, it suspended extended contact tracing efforts.^[8] On November 23, 2020, Toronto was placed under lockdown, under which it remained until the province declared a province-wide shutdown beginning December 26, 2020. This included the declaration of a second state of emergency in January 2021 and stay-at-home orders for the entire province. Toronto remained under stay-at-home orders until March 8, 2021. On April 3, 2021, following an uptick in new cases in Ontario, (exacerbated by more aggressive variants of SARS-CoV-2) Toronto, along with the rest of the province entered a shutdown coupled with a stay-at-home order that lasted until June 2, 2021.^[9][10]

In December 2020, Health Canada approved the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the mRNA-1273 vaccine developed by Moderna. Widespread plans for COVID-19 vaccinations across Canada and the province began during the week of December 14, 2020.^[11] On February 26, 2021, Health Canada approved the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use^[12] and on March 5, 2021, the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine was also approved.^[13] In conjunction with the Provincial rollout, the city has opened ten mass-vaccination sites across the city, with hospital and hospital-run vaccination sites, pop-up clinics, mobile clinics, pharmacies and family doctors participating in the administration of the approved vaccines.

On May 9, 2022, Mayor John Tory announced the termination of Toronto's COVID-19 state of emergency after being in effect for 777 consecutive days, the longest for any major city in the world.^[14][15]