“We know that this wave will be more complicated, more complex — it’ll be worse than the first wave we faced earlier this year… But what we don’t yet is how bad the second wave will be,” Ford said. “It’s up to each of us; together our collective actions will decide if we face a wave or a tsunami.”

The premier called on Ontario residents to be vigilant in following public health measures and warned “everything is on the table,” although he did not announce any new rollbacks in openings.

There were 344 new cases reported in Toronto, up from 137 on Sunday.

Public health officials also confirmed 104 new cases in Peel, 89 new cases in Ottawa, 56 in York, 20 in Niagara, 15 in Halton, 13 in Hamilton, 12 in Simcoe Muskoka, nine in London-Middlesex, nine in Waterloo and seven in Durham.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said 60% of the new cases were in individuals under the age of 40.

The large increase sent the total number of COVID-19 cases recorded in Ontario to 50,531.

There was one additional death confirmed for a total of 2,839 lost to the pandemic.

Ford announced a plan to recruit and retain more health-care workers.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath accused the Ford government of pinching pennies rather than investing in measures that would prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“To save money, Ford has been dragging his feet and avoiding action when he should have been capping class sizes at 15; giving public health more resources to test, expand lab capacity and contact trace; staffing up long-term care homes with full-time jobs that are permanently better paying; and bringing in paid sick days to keep folks with symptoms at home,” Horwath said in a statement. “Instead, the government is scrambling to chase this crisis as Ontario slides backwards in the fight against COVID-19.”

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca backed a call by the Ontario Health Coalition to return parts of the province experiencing high numbers of new cases to Stage 2.

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