Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to make an announcement Friday and discuss the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside Health Minister Christine Elliott, Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate chief medical officer of health.

The Ontario government announced Thursday that students in the southern regions of the province will continue with online learning until Jan. 25 due to “increasing community transmission” of the coronavirus.

According to a statement, students in seven northern Ontario public health unit areas will be allowed to return to school on Monday even though a shutdown for those same regions will be extended by a further two weeks to line up with restrictions in southern Ontario.

“I will never, ever, ever, sacrifice our kids going back to school if the health table and the doctors are telling me not to do it,” Ford said at an unrelated event Thursday morning.

Ontario reported 3,519 new coronavirus cases and 89 more deaths on Thursday. Both figures marked single-day records ever recorded in the province since the pandemic began.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7561060/ontario-students-schools-virtual-learning-coronavirus-update/

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