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Ontario Premier Doug Ford, centre, visits the William Osler Health System - Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness in Brampton, Ont., March 26, 2021.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Ontario is further loosening restrictions in lockdown regions, including Toronto and Peel, even as hospitals warn that COVID-19 admissions are rising dangerously and the health system will face “punishing conditions” in the coming weeks.

The province is making the changes as Toronto encourages people to sign up for open vaccination slots, saying the city is in a race against the virus and that a greater sense of urgency is needed.

On Friday, Premier Doug Ford’s government announced that as of April 12, barber shops, hair and nail salons, and tattoo shops will be permitted to operate at 25-per-cent capacity or a maximum of five patrons in the grey “lockdown” zones, which include Toronto, Peel Region and, as of Monday, Hamilton.

The province is also allowing outdoor fitness classes with a maximum of 10 people, starting Monday, and removing limits across the province on outdoor weddings, funerals and religious services as long as physical distancing can be maintained.

It’s making the changes a week after the government significantly loosened indoor dining rules in the province’s red and orange zones and permitted patios in the grey zones to open.

Local health officials in Toronto and Peel have previously signalled support for more outdoor activities. Toronto’s associate medical officer of health, Vinita Dubey, noted Friday that there is a “higher risk” to both clients and staff of personal care businesses when people are inside together for prolonged periods of time.

Peel’s medical officer of health, Lawrence Loh, said he welcomes the changes, particularly to less risky outdoor activities, while the reopening of personal services “will need to be carefully monitored.”

At the same time, the government said it is strengthening its so-called “emergency brake” provision. The measure would allow the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, David Williams, in consultation with local medical officers of health, to order any region where infections are increasing immediately back into “shutdown” mode – closing most non-essential businesses if public-health trends worsen.

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The province reported another 2,169 COVID-19 cases on Friday, the second day in a row with more than 2,000 for the first time in two months. While death rates and infections have plummeted in long-term care homes, the virus is now striking younger populations, health officials warned.

The Ontario Hospital Association said Friday that the critical care system is at a “saturation point,” with 401 people in intensive-care units with COVID-related critical illness – 74 of them new admissions over the past two days. The number is just shy of the high-water mark of 420 patients in mid-January, which the province is now expected to pass in the coming days, according to the OHA.

“If the number of ICU admissions continues to increase in the days ahead, as is expected, Ontario’s hospitals will be under extraordinary pressure to try and ensure equitable access to lifesaving critical care,” said Anthony Dale, president and chief executive officer of the OHA.

“The health system will face punishing conditions in the weeks to come, and it is vital that each and every Ontarian redouble their efforts to protect themselves, their loved ones, and those who continue to fight the virus on the front lines.”

Mr. Ford denied his government was sending mixed messages about restrictions, saying he’s “very, very concerned” with rising virus variants that now make up half of Ontario’s cases.

“We’re loosening [restrictions] up just a little bit, to be outside, to get fresh air. What I want people to do is just follow the protocols,” Mr. Ford said. “But I’m going to be frank: People are tired. I’m telling you they’re tired, they’re exhausted out there.”

Andrew Morris, an infectious-diseases physician at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said he agrees with the need to free up more outdoor activities but that the government’s public statements are confusing and unclear.

“We’ve had a year of this, where the messaging is largely dissonant,” Dr. Morris said. “We’re really in a dire situation. ... Something tells me that [the government] thinks that warm weather is going to end the pandemic, and it just isn’t.”

Meanwhile, Toronto said it will drop the age of vaccination eligibility to those 70 and older starting on Saturday as officials plead with residents to sign up for appointments, desperate to fill the nearly 30,000 spots that remain available over the next week. The change also applies to those born in 1951 or earlier.

“We are in a marathon race between the virus and vaccines. It is one that the vaccines must win and key to that is your willingness to sign up now to get vaccinated,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said at an rare Friday COVID-19 briefing.

The prospect of vaccination slots going unused at a time of rising concerns about variants and increases in case counts had health and political leaders frustrated and struggling for an explanation.

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