TORONTO - Ontario will embark on an inspection blitz at businesses tomorrow to ensure they're following public health measures as COVID-19 cases surge.
The Ministry of Labour says 150 provincial offences officerswill be deployed across Ontario.
They'll focus their efforts on big box stores, bars, salons and other high-risk settings, ensuring businesses are enforcing distancing requirements, checking vaccine certificates and following other health rules.
The ministry says officers are to take an “education-first approach” to enforcement, but won't hesitate to fine repeat offenders and those willfully flouting the rules.
Ontario is currently dealing with a wave of COVID-19 cases fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant, which is thought to be between four and eight times more infectious than the Delta variant that drove the last wave of the pandemic.
The province says data from recent inspections shows most businesses are following public health rules.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2021.
