Ontario is reporting more than 1,200 new cases of COVID-19 today as the provincewide test positivity rate rises to the highest level seen in nearly three weeks.

Provincial health officials logged 1,268 new cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus on Monday. This is down from 1,747 new infections on Sunday, although the province said Sunday's total was artificially high due to a data catchup. Ontario's health minister could not provide an accurate number for Sunday's tally when questioned by reporters at news conference yesterday afternoon.

Nearly 34,000 tests were processed over the past 24 hours, resulting in a positivity rate of 3.8 per cent, the highest it has been since Feb. 23.

The rolling seven-day average of new cases has climbed to 1,349, up from 1,155 one week ago.

Of the new cases reported today, 366 are in Toronto, 220 are in Peel and 147 are in York Region.

Nine more virus-related deaths were reported by the province on Monday, including three that involved residents of long-term care homes. The average number of deaths reported each day has declined by one, from 13 to 12, week-over-week.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus jumped to 699 on Monday, up from 601 on Sunday and 626 last week. According to the province, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care is 298, up from 282 on Sunday.

Data released by local public health units puts the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 at 926.

Dr. Irfan Dhalla, a University of Toronto medical professor and vice-president at Unity Health Toronto, tweeted Monday that the number of patients with COVID-19 who are currently in the ICU is actually 349, the highest number reported in several weeks.

There are now 12,528 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, up from 11,016 last Monday.

Seventy more variant cases were confirmed through whole genomic sequencing today.

In a tweet published Monday, the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) said Ontario is in a third wave of the pandemic as variants of concern rise steeply and ICU admissions climb.

"We've been asking the science table to look at the RT of the variants of concern versus that of the COVID-19 we had throughout the spring and the fall and into the early part of winter, and it looks like at the moment especially that number is climbing," Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said on Monday.

He said that the province's strategy to deal with an influx in variant cases is to put regions into the grey or "lockdown" category of its colour-coded framework.

When asked if further measures would be taken to control the spread, Williams said the province would have to revisit its Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

"Nothing precludes that medical officer health in their respective grey zones (to) give other Section 22 orders to limit even further," he said. "There may be specific jurisdictions and sectors that they would see are especially problematic in their jurisdiction and would want to take further limitations in there."

The province says 1,191,553 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario to date and 287,283 people are fully immunized.

Ontario officially launched its online vaccine appointment portal today, opening up hundreds of thousands of appointments to people ages 80 and older.

A call centre has also been set up for bookings for those who don't have access to a computer.

The head of Ontario's vaccine distribution task force said Sunday that the province hopes to open up appointments to those 75 and older in early April.

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.