TORONTO - Ontario is extending lockdowns that had been scheduled to expire on Monday amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the province.

In a release late Friday afternoon, the provincial government announced Toronto and Peel Region – which has a population of more than 1 million people across Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon — would remain in the so-called Grey-Lockdown category, pending re-assessment on Jan. 4.

As well, the province is putting the city of Hamilton into lockdown as of Monday.

“With public health indicators continuing to worsen in Toronto and Peel, we are making the difficult but necessary decision to extend public health measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, protect our hospital capacity and safeguard the key services we rely on," said Deputy Premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott in the release.

The moves were telegraphed earlier in the day, when Ontario Premier Doug Ford indicated lockdowns that had been set to end next week would be extended.

“We’re going to continue on with the lockdowns within those regions and we’ll have additional information on Monday for the balance of the province,” he told reporters.

Ford made the comments on his way into a meeting with health officials and hospital leaders today regarding the province's surging infections.

Those talks are coming amid calls from hospitals, doctors and nurses for stricter lockdowns in hard-hit regions.

The province is considering new measures but Ford has offered few details about what those might be.

Ontario reported 2,290 new cases of COVID-19 and 40 new deaths due to the virus.

— with files from BNN Bloomberg