Ontario has no immediate plans to end its mask mandate and COVID-19 vaccine certificate system, the province’s health minister said Wednesday as she announced details of a plan to distribute free rapid tests at grocery stores and pharmacies.
Christine Elliott said Ontario won’t be following the lead of other provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, which started lifting vaccine passport rules this week and plan to end masking requirements in the near future.
Elliott said Ontario intends to keep those measures for while longer, though she didn’t say exactly when they would lift.
“We have no plans currently to drop the passport vaccination situation or masking. We believe that masking is going to be important for some time to come,” Elliott said at a news conference in Kitchener, Ont., adding that the province is following advice from the chief medical officer and other expert advisers.
“We always said that we were going to take a very cautious, phased, prudent approach to opening up and that’s the path that we’re going to follow.”
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