“The most serious situation we’ve ever been in since the pandemic began.”

Premier Doug Ford says the province is in a “desperate situation” and more restrictions will be coming.

Today, the province announced there were 4,249 new COVID-19 cases and 26 more deaths. Officials noted about 450 of those cases were from a couple of days ago – and the actual cases for the day are 3,799.

Ford says the province is in “the most serious situation we’ve been in since the pandemic began” adding the new modelling of where the pandemic is heading will be released Monday or Tuesday and it will be a “wake up call.”

“We’re in a desperate situation…There will be further measures.”

Ontario’s Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Barbara Yaffe echoed the premier’s comments.

“Today’s numbers, to be frank, are scary. It’s very high and it is going the wrong way…we don’t want to scare people, but on the other hand there is too much complacency.”

Yaffe says hospital in the province – including Bluewater Health in Lambton – are either restricting or halting elective surgery. And she noted the situation in long term care is not good.

The Globe and Mail is reporting the case of another Toronto nursing home where paramedics found residents of the St. George care Community “they found their patient naked, alone, ashen-faced and struggling to breathe.”

Yaffe says there will need to be “more measures, similar to what happened in the spring.”

The premier urged residents to “hunker down” to reduce the amount of illness in the province.