The number of Ontarians in intensive care with COVID-19 continues rising sharply as the federal government says the percentage of people under 40 hospitalized is virus is 12 per cent, not 30.

There were 63 Ontario residents in ICU and 46 of them are on ventilators to breathe as of Saturday. That’s a three-fold increase from the number of intensive care patients on Wednesday.

A week ago, fewer than half Ontario’s ICU patients with severely impaired lungs were on ventilators but the proportion is now 73 per cent.

Dr. Theresa Tam, the federal government’s chief public health officer, took to Twitter on Sunday morning to say she “misspoke” at her Saturday noon briefing in reporting 30 per cent of Canadians hospitalized with COVID-19 are under 40.

She offered “apologies.”

“The correct figure is that approximately 12 per cent of those hospitalized are under 40 years of age,” she tweeted.

Even with the lower number, “this statistic is important because it shows that younger age groups are also experiencing illness severe enough to require hospitalization,” she added in a second tweet.

On Saturday, she warned Canadians “not to underestimate the severity of this disease” and reinforced the need for physical distancing of at least six feet and staying home as much as possible.

“The devastating impact of COVID-19 is evident in Europe and parts of the United States.”

As the U.S. surpasses 111,000 cases and approaches 1,900 deaths, there are now at least 55 deaths and 5,153 cases confirmed in testing across Canada — including 19 fatalities in Ontario.

The latest casualty is a London man in his 70s who recently returned from Portugal and died in hospital Friday night, the Middlesex-London Health Unit said Saturday.

The rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 in Canada has ticked up to 7 per cent from 6 per cent in the last couple of days, and the percentage of patients who are critically ill is up about half a point to 3, while fatalities remain stable at 1 per cent.

“We continue to keep an eye on the severity of the disease because, although there will be day-to-day fluctuations, the sustained trend of increased severity could point to a higher rate of infections in vulnerable populations or that the health system is being overwhelmed,” Tam said.

While Quebec saw a surge of 477 new cases Saturday, there is “cautious optimism” in British Columbia because recent statistics suggest the rate of growth in cases there is slowing, a sign that physical distancing and other restrictions are paying off, Tam added.

Ontario’s official case tally rose by 151 or 15 per cent Saturday to a total of 1,144 since the first COVID-19 patient was confirmed January 25. That number includes eight cases that have been cleared and the deaths.

Fully 40 per cent of the cases have not been traced for a cause -- either from travel, close contact with an infected person or spread in the community – as public health units scramble under increasingly heavy workloads to track the infected and their close contacts who may need to self-isolate.

“Even if you are not hearing of cases in your community, it does not mean there are no cases or that there are no exposures waiting to happen,” Tam warned.

The new coronavirus has hit yet another retail worker, this time an LCBO employee at a Toronto store on Allen Rd. that was temporarily closed closed for a “deep cleaning.”

The staffer last worked March 20 and is recovering at home.

“We will work with public health officials to determine any employees with close contact with this team member and will support any additional employees who need to self-isolate,” the LCBO said in a statement.

The beverage alcohol chain has already shortened store hours and outlets will now be closed on Mondays for extra cleaning and to limit staff exposure as COVID-19 takes deeper hold on the province. The stores have taken measures to ensure physical distancing of customers while shopping.

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Two workers at Longo’s, one at a store on Weston Rd in Woodbridge and the other a driver for the company’s Grocery Gateway service, have tested positive. Keith Saunders, a 48-year-old man working at the Real Canadian Superstore in Oshawa, died Thursday after contracting the new coronavirus.

“They are people who are putting themselves at greater risk every day,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday in Ottawa, urging Canadians to do as much as they can do protect essential front-line workers in every sector, from retail to health care.

Those steps include “ensuring we only go out for groceries once a week,” he added. “As citizens and as consumers, we can all do things that will lessen the risk for these individuals.”

With files from Heather Scoffield

Correction — March 29, 2020: This article has been updated from a previous version that incorrectly stated the percentage of people hospitalized with COVID-19 who are under age 40. Dr. Theresa Tam, the federal government’s chief public health officer, says she “misspoke” at her Saturday noon briefing in reporting 30 per cent of Canadians hospitalized with COVID-19 are under 40. The correct figure is 12 per cent.