As Ontario’s COVID-19 case count continues rising, Premier Doug Ford’s government is resisting pressure to reverse labour law changes that allow employers to demand sick notes and revoked two paid sick days for every worker.

New Democrats renewed a push for the move Tuesday after the government reported two more travel-related cases of the novel coronavirus from Egypt and Iran, bringing the provincial tally to 20.

Fearing employer demands for sick notes and an absence of mandatory paid sick days could lead some workers with the new coronavirus or other contagious illnesses to spread germs on the job, public transit and in doctors’ offices, opposition parties said it’s time for Ford to realize his error.

“It’s a smart thing to do,” said interim Liberal Leader John Fraser, who was an MPP in the previous government of Kathleen Wynne that axed the need for sick notes with broad support from the medical community and brought in the two paid sick days as part of labour reforms.

Ford evaded a question from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath on the issue in the legislature, saying “we’re going to be doing our due diligence to make sure that people in Ontario are safe.”

Horwath said Ford is ignoring a concern flagged last month in a letter by 175 health-care workers — including doctors, nurses and public health professionals — warning a failure to back down poses a “serious threat” to the province.

“If we’re serious about tackling this outbreak, notwithstanding how wonderfully our professionals on the front lines and in public health have been dealing with this, the fact of the matter is we’re seeing changes day-by-day. So let’s prepare in advance and make sure workers in Ontario are able to do the right thing,” Horwath told reporters.

“That’s all we’re asking the government. We think it’s a pretty reasonable request. And it’s disappointing they don’t see this as an opportunity to help us cope with a potential expansion of the outbreak.”

Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton, a former family doctor, said sick notes are not mandatory and “employers have the option to require reasonable proof of the circumstances” from workers taking sick leave, family responsibility leave and bereavement leave.

While large employers offer paid sick days and do not require sick notes, the same is not always the case at smaller companies or in low-wage, precarious jobs.

Ontario’s two latest cases are a woman in her 70s from York Region who had been in Egypt and returned to Toronto Feb. 20 and did not go to McKenzie Hospital in Richmond Hill until Sunday with symptoms.

The other case is a man in his 50s who returned from Iran on Feb. 25 and went to North York General Hospital on Saturday. Both he and the woman who went to Egypt were sent home, were confirmed and are in self-isolation.

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Public health units in York Region and Toronto, respectively, are tracing their contacts and movements to alert anyone who may have had enough exposure to them to be concerned.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said the virus is not circulating locally, as it is in many other countries including Washington state in the U.S.

As of Tuesday morning, the province had 45 people awaiting test results for COVID-19. Of the 20 confirmed cases, three have been cleared with two negative tests for the illness at least 24 hours apart.

Only one of Ontario’s cases has been kept in hospital — a man who had been to China — and he was released after a week at Sunnybrook.

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