TORONTO -- Ontario’s Liberal Leader is calling for a public inquiry into the provincial government’s handling of COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care and retirement homes across the province.

As of Thursday, there are 104 reported outbreaks at long-term care homes and seniors’ residences across Ontario, representing 162 deaths. The data shows that 18 long-term care residents have died since Wednesday.

“It is a tragedy,” Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca told CP24. “We know that the numbers are deeply, deeply disturbing. I can’t imagine the anguish that the residents are going through, that the families of those who have passed away as a result of COVID-19 in those facilities, what they must be going through.”

“We’re going to want answers transparently and openly and I believe that at that point in time the best way to do that is with a public inquiry.”

In a new release issued Thursday, Del Duca accused the Ford government of inspecting “little to no” long-term care facilities in 2019.

“Nine out of 626 facilities were comprehensively tested,” Del Duca said.

On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled his government’s new plan to fight COVID-19 in long-term care homes, including stricter testing and screening measures in homes facing outbreaks.

Additionally, the government issued an emergency order that limits long-term care home staff to working at only one facility, a move nursing advocates and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath had been calling for.

Despite that, Del Duca says that the government needs to “move faster,” and asked that the province also adopt a number of recommendations made by Ontario’s Liberal Party a day earlier.

Those recommendations include ensuring an adequate supply and clear protocols of personal protective equipment (PPE) at long-term care homes, as well as a proposed $4 an hour wage “enhancement” for every worker in those facilities for the next three months.

“This is not a time for partisanship or for politics. We are all in this together. We have done our very best to work collaboratively throughout this process and we’ll continue to do that,” Del Duca said.

However, a member of the New Democratic Party called Del Duca’s request for an inquiry “self-serving.”

“There is a reason Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca wants the inquiry into long-term care limited to the last few weeks,” NDP Health critic France Gélinas said in a news release issued Thursday. “He’s hoping to avoid criticism of the years his government underfunded and neglected long-term care, allowing wait lists to balloon and quality of care to suffer, laying the groundwork for the crisis we face today.”

According to Gélinas, the wait list for long-term care grew from 19,000 in 2011-12 to nearly 35,000 in 2018-19, under Liberal leadership. Gélinas went on to say that between 2011 and 2018, the Liberal government added only 611 beds.

“Del Duca and the Liberals blocked the call for a broad independent inquiry into the unfolding crisis in long-term care two years ago. No surprise they are trying to avoid one again,” Gélinas said.

According to the data from Ministry of Long-Term Care, of the more than 600 long-term care homes in Ontario, only 63 inspection reports were submitted in 2018. Data for last year’s reports did not appear to be available.