Ontario is reporting more than 2,300 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 27 more deaths as lockdown measures are set to extend in some COVID-19 hot spots on Monday.
Provincial health officials recorded 2,357 new infections on Saturday, up from 2,290 reported the previous day.
Saturday marks the fifth day in a row that the province has recorded more than 2,000 new daily cases of the disease.
The province logged a record 2,432 infections on Thursday and 2,139 cases on Wednesday.
There are 1,865 more resolved cases, bringing the total number of active cases across the province to 18,207.
According to health officials, more than 67,000 tests were processed in the last 24 hours, down from a record 68,246 conducted a day ago.
A total of 78,147 tests are currently under investigation, down from 81,235 a day ago.
The province’s positivity rate now stands at 4.2 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health.
Ontario's seven-day rolling average of new cases is now 2,158 compared to 1,874 a week ago.
People between the ages of 20 and 39 account for most of the new cases recorded across the province (853) while those 80 years old and over account for the least (142).
Of the latest fatalities, nine were among long-term care home residents.
There are currently 139 long-term care homes with an active outbreak of the disease across Ontario.
Hamilton to enter lockdown, while lockdowns to be extended in Toronto, Peel
Most of the cases continue to be in the Greater Toronto Area, where most regions are currently under lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
"Locally, there are 665 new cases in Toronto, 448 in Peel, 174 in York Region and 170 in Windsor-Essex County," Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted.
Toronto and York Region both saw a slight day-over-day decrease in new cases while Peel saw an increase from the 361 new infections logged on Friday.
Elsewhere in the GTA, Durham Region recorded 104 new cases, compared to 89 a day ago, while Halton recorded 72 new infections, up from 57 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Niagara Region saw a notable increase of new cases with 118 compared to 47 a day ago and Hamilton also recorded 118 new cases, a drop from 126 the previous day.
On Friday, Premier Doug Ford announced that Hamilton will be going into lockdown on Monday in an effort to curb the region’s spike of new cases.
He also said that the lockdown orders in Toronto and Peel that were set to expire on Monday will be extended and re-assessed on Jan. 4.
“The trends that we are seeing throughout Ontario are very, very concerning and nothing is more important to our government than making sure we protect the health and safety of each and every person,” Ford said during an emergency meeting via teleconference with Ontario hospital leaders.
“We are going to have an emergency meeting over the weekend and we will make a decision (on what is next) on Monday,” he added.
The lockdown in Hamilton won’t take effect until 12:01 a.m. on Monday, forcing non-essential retailers to switch to curbside pickup only for the final few shopping days before Christmas.
Lockdown restrictions also order all non-essential businesses to close their doors, including gyms, casinos, movie theatres and personal care services.
Hospitalizations continue to rise steadily
The number of patients hospitalized with the disease continues to creep upwards threatening the health-care system’s ability to effectively care for all patients.
On Saturday, there were 895 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across the province, up from 877 on Friday.
Of those patients, 256 were in intensive care units, down from 261 a day ago, and 146 were breathing with the help of a ventilator.
Earlier this week, The Ontario Hospital Association called on the province to implement a 28-day lockdown in all areas seeing 40 new cases per 100,000 residents or more to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed.
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario is also calling for a province-wide lockdown.
