TORONTO—Hospitals in Ontario will be able to transfer patients waiting for a long-term care space to any nursing home without their consent, the government announced Wednesday as it scrambled to free up beds for residents with COVID-19. Health Minister Christine Elliott said a new emergency order allowing for the transfers was being brought in to help ease the immense pressure some hospitals were under amid an onslaught of the virus. “This temporary emergency order will provide hospitals with the flexibility to transfer certain patients, those whose doctors have determined no longer require hospital care, and could be better supported in a more appropriate setting of long-term care or a retirement home,” she said. “This would be done in only the most urgent of situations, when a hospital is at risk of becoming overwhelmed.” Elliott said hundreds of patients currently in hospital are waiting to be discharged to a long-term care …