Ontario’s backlog of tests for COVID-19 has more than doubled in the last day to almost 3,400, prompting Health Minister Christine Elliott to call the four-day wait for results “unacceptable.”

And Elliott has said she is ordering 300 ventilators as the province prepares for a surge of serious respiratory cases.

The province’s toll-free Telehealth hotline — a first point of contact for residents concerned about what do to if they suspect they have the new coronavirus — also went down Wednesday despite the addition of 300 extra lines and more nurses to take calls amid hours-long waits.

“We are having a few issues,” Elliott acknowledged as the province confirmed another 25 cases of COVID-19 from travellers who were in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Austria and Brazil. The causes of several new cases have not yet been traced.

Ontario’s tally of cases was 214 as of Wednesday night, including five that have been cleared. A Barrie-area man has died and tested positive for the virus posthumously.

“There’s more and more people coming forward to be tested,” Elliott said of the backlog, which is increasing as the province tries to ramp up testing to 5,000 sample a day at the provincial health lab and in several hospital labs coming on stream.

The goal is to get test results in “24 to 48 hours,” she added, noting “testing is the key to containment.”

Officials could not predict when the target of 5,000 will be reached.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said the delays are the result of a combination of factors, including a shortage of swabs and chemical reagents used in the testing.

An industry source told the Star the Public Health Agency of Canada is now asking universities and research institutes to contribute supplies needed to increase testing of COVID-19 to higher levels needed as the virus inevitably takes bigger hold across the country.

Elliott said, “for now,” Ontario hospitals have an “adequate supply” of ventilators to help seriously ill patients breathe if they come down with severe viral pneumonia after contracting COVID-19, but that the province has ordered another 300.

“There are auto parts manufacturers right now that are looking to retool some of the work that they’re doing so that they can help produce ventilators right here in Ontario as well,” she added.

“We know that with many borders shutting down we need to find our own sources internally.”

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