Niagara Health's intensive care units are at 88 percent capacity.
In a statement, Niagara Health President Lynn Guerriero says the overall number of COVID-19 patients in their care has increased from 11 at the end of March to 39 yesterday.
As of the time of her statement, Guerriero says there are 53 patients in the ICU, including 12 people with COVID-19.
She says they are seeing younger patients and an increase in transmission of the variants of the virus.
Niagara Health is opening an additional three beds to increase critical care capacity to 63 and there are limited further options for expansion if the need arises.
Hospitals in Niagara, like most across the province, are postponing some scheduled surgeries.
Patients will be contacted directly by their health care team if their procedure is being postponed.
If necessary, patients will be transferred to another site.
At the end of her statement, Guerriero writes the rally over the weekend where hundreds of people blatantly chose to flout public health measures, was "extreme discouraging for our dedicated healthcare teams and undoubtedly other essential workers who have been working full out to serve, and care for, our community for more than a year now."
