HARRISBURG - Gov. Tom Wolf plans to announce Friday that he will lift more pandemic restrictions in certain counties in Pennsylvania, his office said, while 26 more counties woke up to fewer restrictions.

That leaves nearly 6 million people in hard-hit southeastern Pennsylvania under Wolf’s tightest orders, including a stay-at-home order that is part of Wolf’s so-called “red” phase in the governor’s stoplight-colored three-phase reopening plan.

Wolf will announce that more counties can move to the green phase, the phase with the fewest restrictions.

Starting Friday, eight more counties - Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lebanon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike and Schuylkill - are seeing Wolf’s stay-at-home order lifted and are moving to the yellow phase, a change announced by Wolf last week.

Along with the stay-at-home order, more retailers and other businesses can reopen, including outdoor dine-in seating service at restaurants. Gatherings are limited to 25 people.

Also Friday, 18 mostly rural counties across northern Pennsylvania that are home to about 850,000 residents are moving to the green phase, the first counties to do so. That includes Centre County, the home of Penn State’s main campus.

Wolf has said that, next Friday, he is moving the remaining “red” counties - Philadelphia, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton - to yellow.

Meanwhile, the House Republicans passed a resolution late Thursday night that would end the business shutdown across Pennsylvania.

“From the beginning of this process, Gov. Tom Wolf’s business shutdown order has been arbitrary, frustrating, and destructive to family-owned small businesses that have been cornerstones in communities across our state,” House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said.

House Resolution 836 leaves in place the state’s emergency declaration and ensures nursing homes and long-term care facilities can continue to receive the added assistance they desperately need. The resolution would end the executive order to shut down businesses, which Wolf issued on March 17.

The resolution now advances to the Senate for further consideration.