Premier Doug Ford

The Ontario government is ordering residents to stay at home starting just after midnight Thursday morning.

There are exceptions for essential activities such as accessing health care or shopping for groceries.

Premier Doug Ford says he's also declaring another state of emergency effective immediately in response to surging COVID-19 infection rates.

Ford announced the restrictions shortly after the province released new projections that show the virus is on track to overwhelm Ontario's health-care system.

Ontario releases new modelling

New modelling shows that without any changes, Ontario's health system will soon by overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases.

The projections show that COVID-19 deaths will double from 50 to 100 per day by the end of next month without tougher restrictions.

In more severe scenarios, the numbers show there will be about one-thousand COVID-19 patients in intensive care by February.

Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce new measures today to further reduce in-person gathering limits, cut the opening hours for essential stores and restrict construction and manufacturing to essential business only.