The Minister of Health says reopening the province in phases is crucial to ensuring the safety of people in the province.

Dr. John Haggie says public health officials will be analyzing the effect between phases. If cases do not rise, they’ll proceed to the next step. If they do, then the province will revert to a previous phase and readjust.

He says it was a lot easier to lock everything down than it will be to remove it because there is no playbook for the current situation.

Haggie adds some of the challenges include maintaining a certain number of free beds in hospitals should another spree of cases arise.