Ontario logged more than 800 new COVID-19 infections today as the number of ICU patients approaches 170.

Provincial health officials are reporting 807 new COVID-19 cases, down from 865 on Thursday but up from 781 last Friday.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says 628 cases are in individuals who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 179 are in those who are fully immunized.

Today's tally pushed the rolling seven-day average of new infections to 732, up from 728 yesterday and 665 last week.

The province said 28,786 tests were processed in Ontario over the past 24 hours, resulting in a provincewide positivity rate of 3.2 per cent, up slightly from three per cent last Friday.

With 738 additional cases now considered "resolved," Ontario's active caseload stands at 6,094, up from 5,444 one week ago.

Six more virus-related deaths were reported today, three of which the province says occurred earlier this week and three that occurred more than a week ago. In the past few weeks, the province has failed to provide specific time frames for when some of the more recent deaths have occurred. Over the past seven days, officials have added 47 virus-related deaths to the overall death toll.

The Ministry of Health said there are 169 adult patients with COVID-19 in intensive care today, up from 158 one week ago, and the president of the Ontario Health Association, Anthony Dale, said there were 14 new ICU admissions over the past 24 hours.

Dr. Michael Warner, the medical director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital, called the situation in Ontario ICUs "concerning," noting that ICU occupancy this summer is much higher than last.

Ontario health officials have said in the past that once the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care crosses 200, the health-care system comes under increasing strain and some elective care may have to be postponed or cancelled in hard-hit areas.

The province says only 12 of the 169 COVID-19 patients receiving care in the ICU are fully vaccinated.

On an encouraging note, the province said Thursday that vaccine appointments have more than doubled in the last 24 hours after the Ford government announced its COVID-19 vaccine certificate program, which will require people to be fully immunized in order to access certain non-essential businesses and activities.

The province says 43,855 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered yesterday, including 21,284 first doses and 22,571 second doses. The last time the province administered more than 21,000 first doses in a single day was on July 9, when 21,810 shots were administered.

About 83 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and nearly 77 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist, said while vaccine passports will be helpful in boosting vaccine uptake, more will need to be done to reach herd immunity.

"This alone will not take us the final mile. We still need outreach to undervaccinated communities. We still need excellent interaction between people with ongoing questions, anxieties related to the vaccine with their family physician and primary care provider. And of course we still need to lower barriers to vaccination," he told CP24 on Friday morning.

"This is a step toward that final mile."

The numbers used in this story are found in the Ontario Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any city or region may differ slightly from what is reported by the province, because local units report figures at different times.