NATIONALLY
Canadians will have access to an 82-billion dollar federal assistance program, to help them cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.
For workers who are forced to self-isolate, or are caring for sick family members but don’t qualify for Employment Insurance, they’ll be able to receive the equivalent to what EI pays out every two weeks, for up to 14 weeks.
Low-income families will see a 300 dollar increase in GST rebate cheques, with an extra one-hundred and 50 dollars per child.
Student loan payments will be forgiven for the next six months.
And the deadline for filing your taxes has been extended to June first.
If you end up having to pay taxes on your return, you now have until September first to do so.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced 55-billion dollars to meet the liquidity needs of businesses, including a new fund to help support small business with up to 10-percent in funding of their payroll costs in order to keep people employed.
Trudeau is again urging citizens to avoid public places as much as possible and to only go out for necessary supplies.
Canada’s big banks are also chipping in, saying they will defer mortgage payments for up to six months for those caught up in the coronavirus pandemic.
Individuals and business owners should call their bank to discuss options.
ONTARIO
Here in Ontario, there are a total of 208 cases of the coronavirus being reported, with 25 new diagnoses yesterday.
So far, about 14-thousand people have been tested and provincial health officials say they’ll soon be able to run 5,000 tests a day, five times the current level.
So far, more than 10,000 tests have come up negative.
While they’re confident that Ontarians understand the importance of keeping their distance from others, to slow the spread of the virus, they warn that inviting friends over for lunch or coffee is not “social distancing.”
Premier Doug Ford plans a call today with the heads of Canada’s largest grocery store chains to see if they might have to limit the number of customers in their stories at one time.
But he adds his priority is to maintain the flow of food and supplies.
WORLD
Across the globe, about 220-thousand cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed, with around nine-thousand deaths.
Government officials in Italy, the hardest-hit country outside of China, are warning that the current nation-wide lockdown may have to be extended indefinitely.
However, in China, there are no new domestic cases being reported today, for the first time since the outbreak began.
There are 25 new diagnoses, but all are among people arriving from abroad.
