OTTAWA -- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The holiday season is in full swing but, with the COVID-19 pandemic looming over it, many celebrations will be scaled back.

CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at five stories to watch this week.

Ontario goes into lockdown

Ontario Premier Doug Ford spent the weekend in emergency meetings to discuss COVID-19 restrictions amid rising cases in parts of the province.

Ontario saw six days in a row of case counts above 2,000 as of Sunday, as well as continued high levels of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. More than half of all new cases reported in Ontario come from the Toronto, Peel, and York regions, which are currently in the "Grey-Lockdown" level under the province's framework.

Government sources tell CTV News Toronto that a 28-day lockdown for the southern areas of the province, including Ottawa, will begin at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 24. Northern Ontario will be locked down for two weeks. Only essential businesses will remain open during this time. 

Ford indicated on Friday that an announcement regarding additional measures being taken to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus will be made on Monday.

Doug Ford

Quebec shuts down

In Quebec, an 18-day provincewide lockdown begins on Christmas Day.

Non-essential businesses will be closed across the province from Dec. 25 through Jan. 11.

Elementary schools and high schools will have their holiday break extended to Jan. 11.

Businesses allowed to stay open will include grocery stores, pharmacies, garages and pet stores. Nearly all office workers in the public and private sectors are required to work from home, if possible, until Jan. 11.

Almost all of the province's regions will be re-classified as red zones, which prohibits private gatherings and puts restrictions on many businesses.

Quebec lockdown

Christmas with COVID-19

Christmas Day is this Friday, but health officials across Canada are urging celebrants to stay home for the holidays.

With COVID-19 infection rates on the rise, health officials are requesting people celebrate Christmas only with members of their household.

In Ottawa, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches is telling residents to continue their efforts to limit transmission.

"We continue to ask that celebrations happen only with the people you already live with, virtually or physically distanced with anyone else, and that those who live alone can exclusively join one other household," Dr. Etches said.

"I’d also ask that if you know someone who is isolated and not part of your close contacts to please reach out virtually, give them a call or send them a card or another token of kindness. The holidays can be a difficult time for anyone who is alone, COVID or no COVID. Now more than ever, we need to support one another and our entire community."

Christmas

COVID-19 transmission stable in Ottawa

The weekend saw a bit of good news for Ottawa health-care workers in the fight against COVID-19. For the first time since September, there were zero COVID-19 patients in intensive care. On Sunday, Ottawa Public Health also announced that fewer than 20 people in Ottawa are hospitalized with COVID-19 for the first time since Oct. 1.

However, other metrics measuring transmission of the virus remain relatively stable in "Orange-Restrict" territory and show no signs of decreasing. Ottawa's rate of new cases in the last seven days per 100,000 population is still hovering around 30, and Ottawa's positivity rate is at 1.4 per cent. The estimated seven-day average for the reproduction is below one, which suggests viral spread is slowing, but has also held relatively stable.

Ottawa remains an outlier in large urban centres in Ontario, reporting only dozens of new cases each day as opposed to hundreds, but Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vera Etches, warns that this is precisely the time to resist complacency.

"A small increase in the number of close contacts we have can quickly lead to a significant rise in COVID-19 levels in our community," she said. "As we enter the holiday season, we need to continue to make informed decisions that keep us and others safe from the COVID-19 virus. Avoiding crowded places and close contact with people outside our households are most important."

COVID-19 test

Winter arrives

Winter officially arrives at 5:02 a.m. ET Monday, Dec. 21. In Ottawa, temperatures are forecast to be mild for the start of the season, with snow in the long-term outlook for Christmas.

The Weather Network is predicting swings in the temperature and in precipitation for Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces this winter, which means stretches of both extreme cold and unusually mild air forecast alongside a mix of storms and dry spells.

Winter in Ottawa