Gathering limits in Ontario have changed yet again with the latest series of lockdown measures that were announced to a fair bit of shock on Monday and came into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 5.

Along with the prohibition of indoor dining at bars and restaurants, the move to virtual-only learning for students, capacity limit cuts for retail stores and businesses offering personal care services, and the shuttering of gyms, museums, event venues, movie theatres and more, residents must now limit how many people they get together with an effort to cut personal contacts and curb virus spread.

Social gathering limits have now been cut to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors provincewide, a notable change from the 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors that just came into effect on Dec. 19.

Starting today, indoor social gatherings must be limited to five people. Outdoor social gathering limits are reduced to 10 people.

Learn more: https://t.co/FwDvJgFQjK pic.twitter.com/iP4LXyQ9Jm

— Ontario Ministry of Health (@ONThealth) January 5, 2022

Prior to the recent spike in case numbers thanks to the spread of the less severe but more transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, limits were set at 25 inside and 100 out, but health officials have been urging people to cut down on their socializing for weeks now.

Leaders in some Ontario jurisdictions, such as Kingston, decided to introduce their own more stringent gathering limits earlier in December to try and drive daily new case and hospitalization numbers down, while Sudbury brought back other measures back in November.

The province reported 11,582 new infections on Tuesday, along with 11,669 recoveries. There has been some concern over the fact that hospitalization numbers, which are the key indicators that officials are looking at, include some people who are in hospital for reasons other than COVID-19 that happen to test positive for the virus.