⁣⁣ Ontario can expect 1,600 deaths COVID-19 deaths by the end of April if stricter measures aren’t taken, according to a computer models projecting tracks for the virus that has already killed 98. ⁣⁣ That number could be as low as 200 if the province moves to “full future intervention” and more people staying home, health officials said at a briefing Friday. ⁣⁣ “We feel it’s important to be transparent with the public with the scale of the challenges,” said Peter Donnelly, president of Public Health Ontario.⁣⁣ Without measures that have already taken place, such as the closure of schools and prohibition on gatherings of more than five people, the death toll would have soared to 6,000, Donnelly said.⁣⁣ About 4,400 deaths have been prevented because “A great deal has already been done in this province,” he said.⁣ ⁣ “The situation is extremely, extremely serious,” Premier Doug Ford warned Thursday, bracing residents for numbers that would be “hard to hear.”⁣ ⁣ “I do not believe in holding back figures in this crisis,” Ford added after having a change of heart on releasing numbers he initially feared could “create a panic.”⁣ ⁣ But he decided that Ontarians need to hear the details as they are asked to take extraordinary measures, with many businesses closed and thousands struggling with little or no income and bills to pay under a state of emergency that has shut down swaths of the economy. ⁣ ⁣ “You deserve the same information I have,” Ford said.