Ontario to lift lockdown on dining rooms and gyms

By ROB GILLIES
Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s largest province is ending a lockdown of restaurant dining rooms, gyms and cinemas at the end of the month. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says they will be allowed to reopen Jan. 31 with 50% capacity. The province locked down again on Jan. 5, unlike U.S. cities and states. Like the U.S., Ontario saw record new infections. Ford says hospitalizations are starting to slow and officials expect cases of the ultra-contagious omicron variant to peak this month.