Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, has entered the third wave of COVID-19, the Ontario Hospital Association said Monday.
In a tweet, the association said that variants of concern are steeply rising and the number of patients in intensive care is trending upwards in Ontario.
Ontario confirmed 1,268 new cases of COVID-19 Monday morning. It said the positivity rate has slightly increased as testing numbers decreased.
Monday's report brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 319,374, including 7,162 deaths.
As of Friday afternoon, Canada reported a cumulative total of 911,177 COVID-19 cases and 22,482 deaths,
"We're now in wave three," the association said. "Strong adherence to public health measures is urgently needed to prevent overwhelming hospitals."
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams said on Monday that the province is "into that base of a third wave" and that modelers are assessing the situation.
"What does that mean? How big it is? That's to be determined," Williams said.
Williams said that Ontario is now in a "race against time" with COVID-19 vaccine rates and variant of concern infections both increasing at the same time.
