Ontario has reached a grim milestone on Saturday with 400 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU) across the province, according to the latest data from Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO).

On Saturday, the province also recorded 3,443 new infections and 40 more deaths with nearly 73,000 lab-confirmed tests processed.

A record 4,249 cases were logged on Friday, beating the previous record of 3,519 infections recorded on Thursday.

Of the latest deaths, 26 were among long-term care home residents.

There are currently 240 long-term care homes with an active outbreak of COVID-19 and 2,969 residents have died since the pandemic began last March, according to the government’s epidemiological summary.

Most of the cases continue to be in hot spots within the Greater Toronto Area.

“Locally, there are 1,070 new cases in Toronto, 548 in Peel, 303 in York Region, 282 in Windsor-Essex County and 179 in Ottawa,” Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted.

Elsewhere in the GTA, Halton Region logged 78 new cases, down from 134 a day ago, and Durham Region recorded 166 cases, down slightly from 170 on Friday.

The province’s positivity rate has dropped to 5.3 per cent, compared to 6.2 per cent on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health.

The seven-day rolling average now stands at 3,405, up from 2,655 a week ago.

The latest numbers come after Premier Doug Ford said that the pandemic is “scary” and that Ontario is facing a “crisis” as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise.

“I've never stressed this so much...we are in a crisis. That's how I can describe it. It is scary and we need to work together,” Ford said during a press conference on Friday.

Ford urged all Ontarians to follow public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus as hospitals are becoming overwhelmed with patients.

He also said new modelling numbers will be released early next week painting a stark picture of what lies ahead if Ontario doesn’t get the virus under control.

“We're in a desperate situation. And when you see the modeling, you'll fall off your chair. Everything is on the table right now, there will be further measures because this is getting out of control. We have to do whatever it takes,” he said.

The province also processed a record 72,900 tests in the past 24 hours, beating yesterday’s record of 71,481 tests.

As of Saturday, 2,915 more people recovered from the virus and there are 28,691 active cases of the disease.

To date, there have been 211,837 cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario since late January, more than 178,200 recoveries and a total of 4,922 fatalities.

Trajectory of COVID-19 ICU numbers is ‘worrying’

According to the latest provincial data, which lags behind more up-to-date numbers reported by local public health units, 1,457 people are hospitalized with the virus, up from 1,446 a day ago.

Of these hospitalizations, 382 patients are in ICU- less than what the CCSO is reporting- and 244 are breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Medical Director of Critical Care at Michael Garron Hospital Dr. Michael Warner said hitting the 400-mark of ICU patients across Ontario is "worrying."

“What's more worrying is the trajectory that the rate of increase in COVID ICU numbers is increasing and I'm sure the modeling data that Premier Ford is sitting on will demonstrate that,” Warner told CP24.com on Saturday.

Warner said the increase in ICU patients is putting additional strain on hospitals, particularly in the GTA, that are already overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

“The absolute number is not as important as the relative resources for a particular region. So, if we continue to have a high concentration of COVID ICU patients in the GTA region, then care will continue to be rationed, and rationed in a more significant way,” he said.

Warner said the province is on its way to hitting 600 patients in ICU, which will result in prioritizing the order of treatment based on urgency.

“That's the worst-case scenario situation, not so much the number of patients but to be in that situation where we have limited resources to the degree that we have to triage patients. That's a situation we've never faced in Ontario. That's one that's foreseeable based on the trajectory,” he said.

Modelling data released on Dec. 21 forecasted that the number of ICU patients in ICU could surpass 1,500 by Jan. 22 under the worst-case scenario.

Warner said Ford needs to release new modelling immediately and implement further measures now to prevent more deaths and get the virus under control.

“We need to have a lockdown that resembles the lockdown that we had during wave one. I think that strong consideration must be given to a curfew but a curfew without loopholes, so a curfew different from Quebec,”Warner said.

“... I think you would impart a sense of urgency among Ontarians because there still are people that do not take this seriously. And at this point, there's so much COVID in the community that only with the public's help we’ll be [able] to get through this winter,” he added.

Ontario surpasses 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine

As of 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Ontario has administered 103,263 doses of COVID-19 vaccines since Dec. 14, 2020.

A total of 5,880 vaccines have been given to Ontarians so far.

The province administered 15,700 doses of the vaccine within the past 24 hours, according to the government.

Two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, administered at least three weeks apart, are required for full immunization.