Ontario says a COVID-19 field hospital is expected to take patients this month

Cottage country visitors urged to be respectful Mayor of Norfolk County, Kristal Chopp discusses concerns with out-of-town residents visiting cottage country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TORONTO — Ontario says a COVID-19 field hospital in Toronto could be activated later this month as it grapples with rising hospitalizations caused by the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health says in a statement that the mobile health unit at Sunnybrook Hospital is expecting to take patients in the coming weeks.

The field hospital has been set up in a parking lot at the site and is one of two in the province designed to help address growing capacity challenges.

The province says the temporary beds will provide increased capacity to the health system as a whole by freeing up acute and critical care capacity within hospitals.

The government says it will also help expand capacity by allowing the hospitals to transfer non-critical care patients to these general medicine beds.

This week, Ontario has set new records with the number of patients hospitalized and in intensive care units because of COVID-19.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021.