Ottawa, Dec 18 (IANS): Covid-19 cases continued to rise in Canada as 486,393 new infections and 13,865 deaths were recorded on Thursday, the media reported.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, reported 2,432 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the highest number of cases recorded in a single day since the start of the pandemic in the country, Xinhua reported.

Thursday marked the third straight day in which the province logged more than 2,000 cases of the novel coronavirus.

The Ontario Hospital Association called for a four-week lockdown in every public health unit where there is an infection rate of 40 per 100,000 people or higher.

There are 75,885 active cases across the country with a daily average of 6,614 new cases reported in the past seven days, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Thursday.

"It is important to remember that the vast majority of Canadians remain susceptible to Covid-19," said Theresa Tam, Canadian Chief Public Health Officer, in a statement on Thursday.

Tam said the country's provincial and territorial data indicate that 3,096 people with Covid-19 were being treated in Canadian hospitals daily on average in the past recent seven days, including 629 in intensive care units.

"There was an average of over 116 Covid-19-related deaths reported daily. This situation is placing a heavy strain on local healthcare resources and impacts many Canadians, as important elective medical procedures are delayed or postponed," she said.

"While we continue to prepare the way for widespread and lasting control of Covid-19 through safe and effective vaccines," the official said.

"Canadians are also urged to continue with individual practices that keep us all safer. To do this, we need to continue to limit close contacts to only those in our immediate household and reduce in-person interactions to only essential errands and activities, while consistently maintaining key public health practices," she added.