Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Toronto will begin a 28-day lockdown Monday due to risk of the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelming hospitals.
Premier Doug Ford announced Friday the lockdown in the city along with the Peel Region, which includes widespread closures similar to those early on in the pandemic as COVID-19 cases spike across Ontario province.
Under the lockdown, gyms, nail and hair salons, gaming establishments, such as casinos and bingo halls, cinemas, and performing art centers will all be closed. Restaurants and bars will also be closed except for takeout and drive-thru delivery. Libraries will also be open for pick-up and drop-off of materials, and hotels and motels will be allowed to continue to operate though facilities like pools will remain closed.
Indoor sports facilities will close and outdoor sports will be limited to 10 people with social distancing.
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green said the new lockdown would not affect bus service though the TCC goal continues to be to have no more than 15 passengers on each bus.
The province said it will fine people $750 for violation of public health rules.
"Further action is required to prevent the worst-case scenario," Ford told reporters.
The province reported eight new COVID-19 deaths Friday, bringing the death toll in the province to 3,451. This month alone, 315 people have died of COVID-19 in Ontario. Hospitalizations have increased by 22% and intensive care unit visits have increased by 50%.
Since the pandemic began, Canada has had 324,152 cases and 11,385 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University global tracker.
Meanwhile, Russia and Japan have reported a record number of new cases.
Russia reported a fourth record high for daily cases with 24,822 new COVID-19 cases for Friday.
It was the fourth time the country set a new daily record this week.
In Moscow, 7,168 new cases were reported, an all-time high for the entire pandemic, bringing the total number in the capital to 547,138 cases.
The country also set a record of 467 new deaths from the coronavirus over the past day.
To date, Russia has reported over 2 million cases and more than 35,000 deaths.
Japan hit a record high of new cases for the fourth day in a row with more than 2,500 new cases Saturday.
Amid the spike in cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Japan will suspend its "Go To Travel" campaign -- a subsidy program that offers discounts on travel inside Japan to restart the economy -- in areas that have a high number of COVID-19 cases.
Akira Koike, head of the secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, criticized Suga for not acting sooner to suspend the program amid record number of cases.
"Opposition parties had said [the campaign] should be canceled, but the government never listened," Koike said.
Tokyo reported a new record of 539 new cases Saturday and Osaka prefecture hit a record 415.
Nationwide, the total number of cases since the pandemic began has risen to 130,866.
Japan has also reported 1,932 deaths.
In Hong Kong, the number of new COVID-19 cases rose to 43 from 26 the prior day.
Amid the rise in cases, Singapore and Hong Kong have halted the air travel bubble initially set to begin Monday with a single daily flight into each city, capped at a maximum of 200 passengers per flight.
Travel authorities had previously said the agreement would be suspended if COVID-19 worsens in either city.
So far, Hong Kong has reported more than 5,500 cases and 108 deaths from the coronavirus, according to the government's website.
Singapore has reported 58,148 cases and 28 deaths since the pandemic began.
In Iran, a surge in cases led to new COVID-19 restrictions Saturday, Al Jazeera reported.
The new restrictions include a partial shutdown in areas classified as having the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations. In these areas, all non-essential businesses will be closed, but up to a third of government employees will be allowed to work at offices. Private firms with essential services will also be allowed to continue operating.
In regions with fewer hospitalizations, more business and government workers will continue operating.
Stanford Graduate School of Business economics professor Mohammad Akbarpour said a full lockdown where all but essential services are closed is needed to control the spread of the coronavirus, which means reducing the reproduction number to ensure each COVID-19 patient transmits the infection to less than one individual on average.
"Wearing masks and social distancing in restaurants and so on can reduce the reproduction number to numbers close to one," Akbarpour told Al Jazeera. "But what Iran needs at this point is a substantial reduction in the number of infected people and this can be achieved only through an aggressive, short lockdown in which only essential workers are active and people do not interact with anyone but their household members."
Iran has reported 841,308 cases since the pandemic began and 44,327 deaths.
Worldwide, the United States has the most cases and deaths at more than 11.9 million cases and over 250,000 deaths.
To date, COVID-19 has infected over 57 million people and killed over 1 million people.
