While that modelling has not been made public, Ford's office did share a Public Health Ontario forecast that showed the sheer number of cases caused by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant threatens to overwhelm the province's health-care system. A code orange is typically declared "when demand outpaces capacity to ensure internal and external resources are deployed efficiently," the health system said in a news release. It is the first time William Osler has issued a code orange during the pandemic. Healey said moving to code orange will allow the hospitals to focus on caring for sick patients, while deferring less urgent activities. Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa also initiated a code orange last week.

Source: CBC News January 05, 2022 03:31 UTC