Along with abiding by a whole spate of new measures due to a surge of COVID-19 infections in the province, residents of Toronto, Peel and Ottawa are being asked to limit not only their travel within Ontario, but also their trips out of the house.

In a press release about the return of some Stage 2 restrictions in the three hotspot regions, the province's chief medical officer of health this morning asked those who live in the urban centres to "limit trips outside of home, except for essential purposes only."

Things such as "work where it is not possible to work from home, school, grocery shopping, medical appointments, and outdoor healthy physical activity" constitute as essential reasons for getting out and about, according to the government.

In addition, officials are asking that people from the aforementioned regions limit their travel to other regions in the province, meaning Thanksgiving dinner at your cottage or in your hometown is a no-go.

Province is also asking people in those regions to limit their trips to essential services only; and not to travel to other regions of the province #onpoli

— Laura Stone (@l_stone) October 9, 2020

The news comes as gyms, movie theatres, museums and casinos in the three regions are ordered to close, along with the indoor dining areas of bars and restaurants.

New capacity limits have also been implemented for things like open houses, in-person classes (though not in actual schools) and tours.

At his media briefing today, Doug Ford said that COVID-19 has been spreading across the province "at an alarming rate" in recent days, and that the situation is now "extremely serious."

"I've said I'd never hesitate to take action if it means protecting your health and well-being, to protect the safety of our province. But before doing so, I've always said I have to see evidence," Ford said.

"Last night, our top doctors and health experts did exactly that...Dr. Williams and Dr. Brown presented the latest data and outlined the justification for new restrictions in hotspot regions."

He went on to warn of the dire circumstances we could end up in if further restrictions are not implemented ASAP.

The province announced a record 939 new cases of the communicable disease Friday morning, with per cent positivity and the volume of close contacts of cases likewise skyrocketing in some areas.