"There is so much that health workers are seeing and experiencing and this is leading to a sense of loss and grief that many of us have not experienced before."

"What we do together in the next few days and weeks will set the stage for our ability to meet escalating and anticipated hospital capacity demands."

Experts say patients are flooding hospitals at an alarming rate and are expected to arrive in even greater numbers in the weeks to come.

A statement from Trillium Health Partners says three hospitals are looking for general internists to support the network's "temporary pandemic needs across our sites."

Hospitals were at breaking point with only three critical care beds available in greater Seoul, an area with a population of almost 26 million people, officials said.

The daily tally of 569 came a day after the numbers hit the highest level since March 6, when South Korea was reeling from the first major COVID-19 outbreak outside China.

Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital will not only address Mackenzie Health's own backlog, but it will provide assistance to William Osler Health System and Southlake Regional Health Centre.

“The infrastructure in these emergency rooms aren’t necessarily optimal."

"Recently as part of our normal surveillance, we identified a patient with COVID-19, which led us to rapidly assess the unit and test all patients."

The Canadian Institute for Health Information found 318,000 fewer visits took place in March 2020, compared to March 2019.