The Ontario government will announce Friday which categories of its COVID-19 restrictions system some regions will fall into when they begin to reopen next week.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams has said the decisions will be made based on local virus case rates.

The province began a gradual reopening of its economy Wednesday by lifting the stay-at-home order for three regions with low cases.

The rest of the province, except for three hot spots in the Greater Toronto Area, are set to have the order lifted on Tuesday when they transition back to the colour-coded restrictions system.

Toronto, Peel Region and York Region are set to remain under the stay-at-home order until at least Feb. 22.

The government has warned that a sudden spike in cases could delay the reopening of any region in the province.

This comes as provincial health officials warned that new variants are expected to surge in the coming weeks, based on new modelling data.