Ontario has recorded its third COVID-19 death as the province’s chief medical officer pleads with travellers returning from March break vacations abroad to self-isolate at home for two weeks.

“We just need to do it and do it well,” Dr. David Williams told a news conference Saturday, voicing concern about people coming from other countries who could be “incubating” the virus or unknowingly had direct contact with infected persons.

“We’ll start to see some numbers rising,” he warned, noting the soaring number of cases in vacation hotspots in the United States.

The latest victim of the global pandemic taking growing hold in Ontario was a man in his 70s who died at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie.

He was a close contact of a man of similar age who died at the hospital on March 11, after himself coming in contact with another person who had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

“His death is a tragedy and underscores the seriousness of this pandemic,” Royal Victoria president Janice Skot said of the latest victim.

A date of death was not revealed by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, which flagged another case of note – a woman in her 30s is in “serious condition” after going to Southlake hospital in Newmarket on Tuesday.

Health unit officials said it appears the woman caught the virus in the community, not through travel.

Ontario’s case count rose by 58 on Saturday to almost 380, including six who have recovered and been cleared after follow-up tests.

The backlog of tests, however, has now grown to more than 7,200 as more people return to the province from trips or go to assessment centres. That has led to delays of four to seven days for those anxiously awaiting results.

With the provincial health lab and other laboratories running around the clock, Williams said 3,900 tests were processed yesterday with a goal of reaching 5,000 a day within a week or two.

Recommendations to Premier Doug Ford on whether to request more stores to close -- or other measures -- to limit the spread of COVID-19 are not solely being made on test results that present an outdated picture, Williams said in response to a question.

“It’s not the only metric,” he added, noting his office is also getting regular reports from dozens of assessment centres and statistics on emergency room visits across the province.

“It’s not all a week old.”

Williams said he does not have an updated figure on the number of patients now in hospital with COVID-19. The tally was 22 on Thursday with four patients in critical care on ventilators to breathe for them.

Toronto medical officer Dr. Eileen de Villa said Saturday 193 of the province’s cases are in Toronto, with 10 of them in hospital. The city of Toronto also issued a plea for travellers to self-isolate.

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In terms of a possible wider shutdown, as several hard-hit U.S. states have ordered, Williams said the province is developing a list of essential services that would have to continue regardless, including grocery stores and pharmacies.

That effort is being co-ordinated with the federal government to provide more consistency amid criticisms there is not enough standardization in measures by various provincial governments.

A growing number of retail chains have decided to shut down voluntarily, including Winners and Ikea.