Ontario has hit two milestones in the COVID-19 outbreak that began in January, with more than 10,000 confirmed cases and 500 fatalities.

“I grieve with you,” a sombre Premier Doug Ford told the families of the dead, many of whom were vulnerable targets in nursing homes, during his daily news conference Thursday.

He called the new coronavirus a “ruthless killer” but also noted that Ontario’s hospital capacity is in “not bad shape” as the illness’s spread has slowed to one-third the rate it was at earlier this month.

Still, another 533 Ontarians tested positive for COVID-19 as of 5 p.m. Thursday, an increase of 5.6 per cent in 24 hours, for a total of 10,124 to date. The death toll grew by 55 to an even 500, according to a Star compilation of data from Ontario’s regional health units.

Across Canada, there were 29,826 cases with 1,048 deaths, said federal public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who said physical distancing and other measures are slowing the spread of the virus in the community.

“Assuming our staycation for the nation over the long weekend has helped to maintain this trend, we now need to double down to stamp out outbreaks in high-risk settings,” Tam told a news conference in Ottawa, referring to nursing homes, jails, shelters and other situations where people live in close quarters.

But while an expected surge of seriously ill patients has not slammed hospitals as it has in New York City and Detroit, Ontario officials remain on edge.

“We’re just in a holding pattern now, waiting to see which way this will go,” said Health Minister Christine Elliott.

The province now has 3,504 critical care beds, including 2,811 equipped with ventilators to help patients with severely impaired lung function breathe, up from 1,319 with ventilators when the outbreak began.

Ministry of Health statistics indicate there were 807 Ontarians in hospital with COVID-19, including 248 in intensive care with 200 of them on ventilators. Those numbers have been fairly stable in recent days.

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“We are still building our (hospital) capacity because we don’t know, we haven’t hit the peak yet,” Elliott added, noting hospitals stand ready to rent unused hotel rooms or set up tents to act as field hospitals if necessary.

Chief medical officer Dr. David Williams, who said several days ago that Ontario could hit its peak this week, indicated he’s waiting for more insight from updated computer modelling by epidemiologists.

At least 4,194 Ontarians who contracted COVID-19 have recovered, more than 40 per cent of the total cases.

The province completed 9,001 lab tests for COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, in line with Ford’s goal of doing at least 8,000 to get a better picture of how the virus is spreading.

With files from Tonda MacCharles

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