‘No excuses’: Ford calls for 13,000 coronavirus tests PER DAY in Ontario

Premier Ford discussed personal protective equipment items, which he says he's working day and night on and says he sees a "light at the end of the tunnel" with.

Ford got especially passionate when speaking about the lack of testing being done in Ontario, calling it "unacceptable."

Ford would go on to call for 13,000 coronavirus tests "starting tomorrow," demanding officials to pick up the pace after tests dwindled to roughly 3,000 tests a day.

"I may not understand health... But what I understand are numbers... No more excuses, it's unacceptable. We have the testing capabilities. We say we can do 13,000 a day, then we need to be doing 13,000 every single day."

For called for the testing of front line health care workers, doctors, hospital staff, long term care homes, first responders, police, and paramedics.

"There's no more excuses," he said.

Ford says that the testing will be done with the help of the new CEO of Ontario Health, someone Ford says he has "great respect for." Ford says he will not quantify exactly how many tests will be started tomorrow, but says that the roughly 3,000 tests per day is "unacceptable."

"It's critical, we take care of these people... We have to continue testing the public, it's all hands on deck right now," he said. "Test, test, test, and don't stop testing."

Ford also called on Ontarians to not go to their cottage. "This long weekend, do not go to your cottage... No one loves the cottage more than I do. But I'm not going to my cottage. We're going to make sure that we listen to the protocol that the chief medical officer has requested... You know how nice the people are [in cottage country.]... But they don't have as many acute care beds as we do here," said Ford.

Ford says that the province has sufficient kits to provide 13,000 tests per day.

The province's current coronavirus figures sit at 5,276 confirmed cases, though it's expected that there are many more.

1,102 people are still awaiting results. Official deaths tally at 174.