TORONTO -- The city's emergency operations centre is now operating at its highest possible level amid a COVID-19 outbreak that continues to worsen.

The emergency operations centre was opened last week at a level one activation but the city quickly escalated it to level two in order to staff it 24/7 and gain access to other resources.

On Tuesday night, Fire Chief Matthew Pegg confirmed on Twitter that the centre is now operating at a level 3 activation, which is the highest possible level.

He said that the move was automatically triggered by the province’s decision to declare a state of emergency.

The @cityoftoronto Emergency Operations Centre is now operating at Level 3. This is the highest level of EOC activation. Our EOC and #COVID19 Task Force are fully engaged in managing the pandemic in Toronto. @TorontoOEM @TOPublicHealth — Matthew Pegg (@ChiefPeggTFS) March 17, 2020

It will result in the deployment of some additional resources into the centre, Pegg said, though at this point it is unclear what form those resources may take.

Pegg previously said that upwards of 50 people “from each and every city division and city agency” were working on the response to COVID-19.

“We are well managed/resourced and are operating effectively,” he said in a subsequent message posted to Twitter on Tuesday night.

The city’s emergency operations centre has not previously operated at level three and Pegg said last week that the designation would ordinarily be reserved for natural disasters.