Number of COVID-19 patients being treated in ICUs up 23 per cent over last week: Dr. Tam

Canada's chief public health officer says the number of patients being hospitalized for COVID-19 is on the rise as more contagious variants of the virus spread in many parts of the country.

Dr. Theresa Tam says hospitals treated an average of more than 2,500 patients with COVID-19 each day last week, a seven per cent increase compared to the previous week.

Tam says 860 of these patients were in intensive-care units, which is an increase of 23 per cent over the previous week.

Ontario hospitals have been asked to ramp down elective surgeries and non-urgent procedures in order to cope with the influx of COVID-19 patients.

Tam says these worrying trends are consistent with a strong resurgence of COVID-19, noting that the number of new cases linked to more contagious variants of the virus has doubled over the past week.

She says an average of more than 6,800 new cases and 30 deaths reported were reported daily over the past week.