Ontario Hospital Association is asking the government to implement a four-week lockdown in every public health unit with an infection rate of 40 per 100,000 population or higher.

"Hospitals appear increasingly likely to face a wave of seriously ill COVID patients that will almost certainly disrupt other acute care services and operations."

Ontario now has 150 COVID-19 patients in its intensive care units - a key threshold that government projections have indicated could lead to cancelled surgeries.

On Friday, the provincial government announced that Peel Region would move to the red zone under the province's new colour-coded coronavirus system.

Ontario's hospitals are facing "unprecedented" financial pressures because of the pandemic, the head of the association representing them said Friday, asking the government to speed up funding promised to address COVID-19 costs.

The report found that in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, 55 per cent of long-term care homes in the province reported an outbreak, while 75 per cent of all deaths were represented by long-term care residents.

Hospitals and long-term care homes are nearly at capacity and won't be able to handle a surge in COVID-19 patients during the second wave of the pandemic, an independent commission has heard.

The Ontario Hospital Association says some of the options being considered include setting up field hospitals, using hotel rooms for patients and taking over space in long-term care homes.

The Ontario Hospital Association says the government must move those regions back to Stage Two of the province's pandemic response, which saw restrictions on non-essential businesses like restaurants, gyms, and movie theatres.

'The province must also ask non-essential businesses to have employees work from home and instruct universities and colleges to offer classes online,' the statement from the doctors said.