TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford is admitting the province needs to do better in tackling COVID-19 in long-term care home after hundreds of people have died in these settings.

“I think the system needs to be changed and we are changing the system but right now our main focus is to make sure we protect the people inside these long-term care homes,” he told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.

“It's a terrible virus and we have to do a better job and, at the end of the day, the buck stops with me and we'll make sure we get it fixed but my number one priority … is to make sure we put the resources that are needed into these long-term care homes.”

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, 516 of the 713 people (72 per cent) who have died of the disease in Ontario were residents of long-term care homes.

To date, there have been 135 outbreaks at long-term care homes across the province with a total of 2,189 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents and 1,058 confirmed cases among staff.

“I recognize the system is broken and we are going to fix the system,” Ford said. “I'm pushing the system constantly on all fronts … This system, and a lot of systems are broken down here.

“Make no mistake about it, the system we’re going to fix many systems down here, whether it’s long-term care or just the way the government runs.”

Minister of Long-Term Care Dr. Merrilee Fullerton defended the government’s approach on Thursday, saying they were handed down a broken long-term care system and have been trying to fix it.

“We knew this long-term care sector had been neglected for many years and we were taking action to change that when the pandemic hit,” she said.

“We're not afraid to ask for help, our homes are struggling and we have called in the military ... we have used every tool that we had and we have created new tools.”

New action plan announced for vulnerable groups

The Ontario government also announced on Thursday that a new action plan to support vulnerable groups impacted by COVID-19 will be launched within the next 48 hours.

Ford told reporters that the new plan would protect staff and residents at groups homes, homeless shelters, homes serving people with developmental disabilities, women, children and youth shelters and spaces that serve vulnerable Indigenous people.

"These people are most at risk during this pandemic and that's why we are helping these organizations immediately ramp up screening and testing, deploy more protective masks and gloves, and put more boots on the ground in the fight against COVID-19,” Ford said.

Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Todd Smith said the new measures will increase screening and testing of visitors, staff and residents, provide additional training with PPE and make the use of masks mandatory in high-risk settings.

"Our vulnerable populations COVID-19 action plan includes a series of actions to be put in place over the next 48 hours ... that are targeted at enhancing screening and testing in these settings to stop the spread of COVID-19,” he told reporters Thursday.

He said the measures would also limit staff to only working at one high-risk facility.