Niagara has a dozen new cases of COVID-19 today, prompting the president of Niagara Health to implore people to follow public health guidelines.

The region has 37 active cases, and has seen 985 people test positive for COVID-19 since March. That's up from 973 on Wednesday.

Niagara Health is finally back to pre-COVID levels for surgeries and other health services, president Lynn Guerriero said on Thursday. But it wants to stay that way, so people need to keep up with precautions.

"We do not want to be in a position in which we need to ramp down hospital services or limit access to visitors again," she said in a community message. "We know there is pandemic fatigue, but the virus is not done with us yet, and we ask that everyone do their part."

The increase comes after weeks of seeing between one and three new cases per day. Hamilton is seeing an uptick too. On Wednesday, it reported 1,047 cases overall (42 are active right now), an increase of eight from the day before, and four the day before that. Hamilton's medical officer of health has said that four or more cases a day marks a general day-over-day trend upward when it comes to the number of people being diagnosed with COVID-19.

The number of deaths in Niagara from COVID-19 remains at 64, Hamilton at 45.

Ontario saw an increase of 315 new cases Thursday, and will lower limits for social gatherings in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel.

In her message, Guerriero said no one is in hospital in Niagara with COVID-19 right now. (Hamilton has fewer than five hospitalized.) But to keep it that way, it needs people to follow health advice, including washing hands, staying physically distant and wearing masks.

"We know more about this virus than we did in March," she said. "We know how it spreads, and we know it can be controlled with this bundled approach."

"We need the community's unwavering support to keep the transmission of the virus down in the community."

Three people in Brant have confirmed COVID-19 right now, with one new case this week, for a total of 168 since the pandemic started. Five have died and 160 have recovered.

There is one staff at La Ballon Rouge Daycare, and one staff case at John Noble Home.

The two counties have a combined 14 active cases right now, and have seen 487 cases since March. That's an increase of two from Wednesday.

Thirty-two people have died and 441 have recovered.

There are 18 new cases in Halton Thursday, and 78 people known to have the virus right now. There have been 1,073 since March. Twenty-five people have died and 970 have recovered.

There are two new cases in Burlington, for 224 in total since March. Thirteen people are known to have the virus right now, seven have died and 204 have recovered.