Ontario has passed the 12,500 mark in confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 as more attention turns to new flashpoints for the virus.

There are growing infection rates in jails, group homes and shelters in addition to long-term-care facilities — all places where people live in close quarters, making it easier for the virus to spread.

A Brampton provincial jail was closed temporarily for cleaning and people transferred to the Toronto South Detention Centre after 60 inmates and eight staff tested positive.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the province to test all residents and staff in group settings to get a better picture of the virus and prevent flare-ups.

“The government ought to have known long-term care and group home settings were a disaster waiting to happen,” she said Monday.

Toronto Public Health reported three nursing homes account for 76 of the 123 long-term-care deaths in the city while there were almost 100 cases in outbreaks at 11 shelters, including the Willowdale Welcome Centre.

Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton insisted the problems in nursing homes, for example, were not a result of “a lack of preparation.”

“Everything is being done that can be done,” the former family doctor told a news conference at Queen’s Park.

The number of Ontario residents who have contracted the new coronavirus increased by 668 or 5.6 per cent to a total of 12,534 since the outbreak began in January, according to a Star compilation of data from the province’s regional health units at 5 p.m. Monday.

Deaths increased by 47, bringing that tally to 657.

Just over 5,500 Ontarians have recovered from the virus, according to Ministry of Health statistics released Monday morning based on reports from health units as of 4 p.m. Sunday.

The number of deaths includes at least 249 in nursing homes that have been struggling to quell the spread of COVID-19.

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Long-term-care homes have seen at least 2,000 cases, two-thirds of them residents and one-third staff as testing increases in an effort to get a better handle on the problem, according to figures from the health ministry.

There were 802 Ontarians in hospital with the illness on the weekend, with 249 of them in intensive care and 193 of those on ventilators to assist with breathing.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, reported Monday there are 36,216 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 1,611 deaths.

She said testing levels have increased over the last few days, to the point where there are 20,000 persons a day being tested, with more than 555,000 tested to date.