One of Ontario's top public health officials warned that the COVID-19 situation in the province is “dire” after another single-day record for coronavirus infections was reported on Wednesday, and hospitalizations and intensive care admissions continue to climb.

Provincial health officials logged 4,736 new cases today, topping the previous record of 4,456 infections confirmed on Sunday.

The rolling seven-day average of new infections now stands at 4,208, up from 3,093 just one week ago.

“Unfortunately, our situation is dire,” said Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "I really wish that I had better news to give you today. These data are alarming and should be of tremendous concern for everyone.”

Yaffe noted that Ontario reported more than 29,000 new cases since last Thursday's provincial COVID-19 briefing.

"I have been providing updates to Ontarians for over a year now, and at some of the previous press conferences, I referred to the situation as worrisome and even scary. What is truly scary is that when I used those words before our rates and our trends, were nowhere near where we find ourselves today."

According to the Ministry of Health, there are now 1,932 COVID-19 patients at Ontario hospitals and 659 of those people are in the ICU, reaching new highs not seen in previous waves of the pandemic.

Yaffe said the province will see daily cases remain high "for the next while" and hospitalizations and ICU admissions "will increase even more."

"While we have a stay-at-home order and stronger public health measures in place, it will take some time before we see the effect of these interventions. But we do know that those measures work."

Another 29 virus-related deaths were reported in the province today, and the average daily death toll has jumped week-over week, from 14 last Thursday to 21 today.

"How much heartbreak can you continue to have," Dr. Andrew Boozary, executive director of social medicine at the University Health Network, told CP24 on Thursday.

"We have seen the models and the anticipation of what was going to happen and what kind of hospitalizations and death were in store if we didn't act and now to see this play out in real life for people, for families, it continues to be devastating."

Of the new cases confirmed today, 1,188 are in Toronto, 526 are in York Region, 342 are in Ottawa, 216 are in Durham Region, and 215 are in Niagara Region.

Peel Region saw a record 983 new infections today, surpassing the previous single-day high of 860.

In Grey Bruce, a record 46 new cases were confirmed today, one day after the Grey Bruce Health Unit said it had hit a "critical threshold of cases” in the region.

In a statement released Wednesday, the public health unit asked all residents to "consider themselves a carrier for the next 48 hours" while staff attempt to do contact tracing on 70 new positive cases, which were confirmed over a 36-hour period.

Public health officials say the 70 cases were the result of "individuals not following lockdown" rules by "visiting others when symptomatic." The health unit also says some cases have been traced back to "bush parties" attended by high school aged youth.

The surge in cases comes as municipalities continue to report issues with vaccine supply.

Multiple vaccination clinics, including one in Toronto’s hard-hit Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood, have been forced to stop offering appointments due to supply shortages.

"The vaccines are not getting out to the communities that are on fire and for the people at highest risk, the kind of protections they need are not in place," Boozary said.

"It is so hard when you look at the fact that there have been communities throughout the pandemic that have been on fire, and when you look at the data as to who is getting access to the vaccine, they are getting fractional access."

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 3,528,404 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Ontario. Provincial health officials have vowed to immediately prioritize everyone 18 and older living in hot spot communities in Toronto and Peel Region but have blamed a lack of supply for the slow rollout.

With the exception of some mobile teams and a handful of pop-up clinics, most residents of hot spots do not have access to a vaccine. The provincial booking system is only open to hot spot residents who are 50 and older and younger adults in those communities are not eligible to be vaccinated at city-run mass immunization clinics or pharmacies.

The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.