(Toronto) The Ontario government has limited the number of supporters at indoor events to 1,000 or 50% of venue capacity, whichever is less, as the province faces an increase in COVID-cases. 19.
The announcement was made Thursday by Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, and will significantly affect the games of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, NHL, and the Raptors. Toronto, in the NBA, and OHL teams located in the province.
The new limit goes into effect on Friday. The Raptors are due to host the Los Angeles Clippers on this day.
The Maple Leafs’ next two home games are on Saturday against the Senators and Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers. It remains to be seen whether they will stand, as the NHL may decide to postpone them until the fan limit in Ontario is lifted.
The Maple Leafs, Senators and Raptors all started their seasons with full capacity in their arena bleachers, but that number was halved in early December as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. of magnitude due to the Omicron variant.
The news comes as the province has set successive records for daily COVID-19 infections. The latest peak of 13,807 new infections was reported on Thursday. The province also recorded eight new deaths from the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Thursday that 965 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, including 200 people in intensive care.