Compliance with COVID-19 safety requirements is on the rise among Ontario small businesses.

Labour Minister Monty McNaughton said that during follow-up visits provincial offences officers found over 70 percent of businesses were in compliance, a 20 percent increase from last week.

In the last three days of February, 110 officers conducted over 1,000 COVID-19 related workplace safety visits in Durham Region, Eastern Ontario and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.

McNaughton said the majority of the visits were made to small businesses, with fewer than 25 employees, which had been closed during the provincial shutdown.