Cellphones, radios and televisions across Ontario received an emergency alert Thursday morning telling people to stay home.
The emergency message about the province’s stay-at-home order that took effect at 12:01 a.m. was sent by the Ministry of the Solicitor General through the province’s Alert Ready broadcast system.
The message asks people to only leave their homes for essential purposes such as food, health care, exercise or work.
It is the latest attempt by the government to communicate new public health measures that came into effect today as COVID-19 case counts surge.
Ontario reported nearly 3,300 cases of COVID-19 and 19 deaths on Thursday.
