Essential retailers will have to further lower capacity limits to 25 per cent, indoor religious services will be limited to 10 people, and non-essential construction will have to shut down.

'Construction will be unaffected and remain wide open,' says the Council of Ontario Construction Associations in an email to its members.

Premier Doug Ford is expected to make the announcement at a news conference this afternoon. Sources say the order will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning and last for four weeks.

For the first time in history, the value of construction across the country exceeded $10 billion. A gain of more than 14 percent in non-residential construction permits outweighed a loss of nearly 3 percent in the residential sector.

The budget allocates significant funds to infrastructure spending, including core investments in transit, highways, schools, hospitals and broadband.