Windsor-Essex is moving into the yellow category of the province's COVID-19 Keeping Ontario Safe and Open Framework.
Speaking on Friday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford said "We're staring down the barrel of another lockdown."
Ontario is lowering the thresholds for imposing stricter COVID-19 measures under the colour-coded framework in light of what Premier Doug Ford calls "alarming'' new projections.
The changes mean several regions —including Windsor-Essex, London-Middlesex and Huron-Perth — will move to the yellow alert level,or protect, while other regions such as Hamilton, Halton, Toronto and York move into the red alert level, the most restrictive short of a lockdown.
The move comes a day after health authorities unveiled new projections that showed the province is on track to see 6,500 new daily COVID-19 cases by the middle of next month.
The lower thresholds will take effect on Monday, except for Toronto, which was already set to move to the red alert level on Saturday.