No visitors are allowed at any area hospital as attempts to contain COVID-19 escalate now that the virus is spreading in the Hamilton and Halton communities.

It comes as Hamilton has two patients with coronavirus in hospital at St. Joseph's Healthcare and Halton had its first death linked to the disease.

With no new area cases Friday, Hamilton's mayor stressed the importance of social distancing.

"All of these changes are not particularly effective if we don't get your help and co-operation in putting them into effect," Mayor Fred Eisenberger said at a virtual news conference Friday.

"When we talk about social distancing it's not, 'Let's invite our friends over for dinner and a movie tonight' or 'Let's get the family together and we'll bond.' This is really about everyone staying at home because we're all potential carriers."

The widow of 51-year-old Sean Cunnington is also urging area residents to stay home after the father of three died of COVID-19 on March 18. Cunnington was a Milton musician who also worked for Kal Tire and had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia a few years ago, but was otherwise in good health.

He was Ontario's second COVID-19 death — the other was a 77-year-old Barrie man who died on March 17.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce wouldn't guarantee Friday that schools will reopen April 6, saying he'll take his lead from Ontario's chief medical officer of health.

"That is important information that will play into our decisions around the opening or the continued closure of city facilities," said Paul Johnson, director of Hamilton's Emergency Operations Centre.

"We know parents and families want to plan," he said. "But recognize this is an ever-evolving situation."

While school is out, the province launched an online learning portal at Ontario.ca/page/learn-at-home.

At the same time, TVO announced online learning around the Ontario curriculum for Grade 6 to Grade 10 students at www.tvomathify.com/students, and for kindergarten to Grade 6 at www.tvompower.com.

Anxiety remains high in Hamilton with about 800 to 1,000 calls a day to the city's coronavirus hotline — 905-974-9848 or phscovid19@hamilton.ca or hamilton.ca/coronavirus.

"Many are struggling, the marginalized and homeless even more so than most," said Eisenberger. "Do what you can to make someone else smile over the next little while."

The worried well continue to try to get COVID-19 testing from the assessment centres at the West End Clinic and King Campus urgent care centres, which are to be attended by referral only from public health or family doctors.

So far the two centres have tested 533 residents since Monday.

Overall, the province did 3,000 tests in 24 hours from Thursday to Friday.

But there were still nearly 5,500 tests pending Friday — up from almost 4,000 on Thursday and roughly 1,500 on Tuesday.

To help with the testing backlog, the federal health minister signed an interim order this week to make new COVID-19 diagnostic tests readily accessible in Canada.

Provincewide, there were at least 318 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Friday at 5:30 p.m. compared to 258 the day before.

Hamilton has 23 cases and Halton has 11.

All of Hamilton's cases are self-isolating at home except for two who are doing well in the COVID-19 ward at St. Joseph's Healthcare on Charlton Avenue East.

"It is an independent space, isolated from other patients, outfitted with proper infection control equipment for care of COVID-19 patients," St. Joseph's said in a statement.

One of the patients in hospital is an 80-year-old woman who is a resident of Heritage Green long-term care home in Stoney Creek.

The other is a woman who got COVID-19 after returning from a cruise and had been self-isolating at home until her condition got worse Tuesday night and she went to St. Joseph's.

Hamilton's other cases include a three-month-old baby, and six of the cases are age 65 or older, which is a higher-risk group.

Almost all of the local cases can still be traced back to international travel, including six people who were on cruises.

But two cases, including the Heritage Green resident, couldn't be traced to travel, showing there is community spread in Hamilton.

Cunnington also had no connection to international travel, so there is local transmission of COVID-19 in Halton as well.

"We can't underscore enough the importance of distancing ourselves," said Johnson. "We need to be mindful of that in everything we do."

Johnson warned again Friday against going on playground equipment and park benches.

DARTS is restricting its transit service to essential trips only such as work, medical appointments, picking up prescriptions and shopping for groceries.

On Monday, HSR will move to a Saturday schedule for all weekdays.

"We understand this creates challenges and has created some concern for our transit users," he said. "As soon as we can add more and as soon as we can get back to full service we will. We believe it's better to have reliable service than haphazard service."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that American visitors will no longer be able to enter Canada starting at midnight, and asylum seekers crossing the border from the United States will be sent back.

"It does not effect our supply chains," said Johnson. "Trucking will not be impacted by the new measures at the border ... There is no need to horde. There is no need to overbuy."

Health Canada stressed there is no scientific evidence that establishes a link between ibuprofen and worsening symptoms of COVID-19, addressing reports on social media.

Ontario is waiving the three-month waiting period for OHIP coverage and will cover the cost of COVID-19 care for uninsured people.

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario is asking residents to show support for health-care workers on the front lines by going on their porches, balconies or opening their windows everyday at 7:30 p.m. and making noise, such as banging pots and pans, singing, applauding or honking.

The no-visitor policy came into effect Friday at St. Joseph's and Hamilton Health Sciences, and Saturday at Joseph Brant Hospital.

Exceptions are being made for exceptional cases such as palliative patients and partners of women in labour.

—With files from The Oakville Beaver