Ontario reports record 2,923 cases of COVID-19, over 1,177 people are now in hospital

Ontario has reported a record 2,923 cases of COVID-19, as well as record hospitalizations. This comes as people are off work and school for the Christmas season and the province is under a lockdown.

The new numbers confirmed by the Ontario Ministry of Health now make the number of hospitalizations higher than the peak of the first wave of the pandemic. Ontario's positivity rate has also jumped to 8.4 percent.

Most cases are in the Greater Toronto Area, with 998 of the new cases reported being in Toronto, 441 in Peel, 408 in York Region, 158 in Durham, and 114 in Halton.

The high numbers of hospitalizations are also mostly in the GTA, with some hospitals in Toronto and Mississauga nearing capacity. Across the province, there currently are 1,177 people hospitalized, 335 of those people are in ICU, and 204 people are on a ventilator. The peak of hospitalizations in the spring was 1043.

The new record-breaking numbers come as all of Ontario is under a strict lockdown. Toronto and Peel have been in Lockdown since late November, but are still seeing high case counts. In fact, data from Toronto Public Health showed that people cramming into big box stores for holiday shopping, as small and medium-sized businesses were closed, contributed to the city's record number of new cases.

Toronto mayor John Tory told CP24 "The numbers are very disconcerting. They are still alarming and they are still putting a huge strain on the healthcare system so there is nothing good about them. The numbers are just not good."