KITCHENER -- Waterloo Region's top doctor says people need to cut down on their social interactions now, rather than waiting for a province-wide lockdown to start on Boxing Day.

At the region's weekly COVID-19 briefing, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said COVID-19 case numbers continue to move in the wrong direction. Dr. Wang asked people in the region to take the situation seriously, since the local health-care system is at its tipping point.

Region of Waterloo Public Health continues to report high case counts every day, and there are more outbreaks in workplaces and congregate care settings. Hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths continue to climb.

Tuesday marked the seventh time in the past eight days that officials have reported more than 80 new cases. Four more deaths were also reported in the region.

Dr. Wang added that there is widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the region and it has started spreading faster. She said people need to take action now to get case counts under control.

"Four weeks may not be enough to slow the spread of COVID enough to exit lockdown," Dr. Wang said. "That is if we do not start reducing our social interactions now. And if we socialize and gather even more before lockdown, thinking that it's OK for a last hurrah because we're going into lockdown, we will make it even worse for ourselves."

Dr. Wang said local numbers will likely still grow even after moving into a lockdown.

She also said people shouldn't gather outdoors with people outside of their immediate household during the lockdown.

Grand River Hospital President Ron Gagnon said he has concerns about critical care capacity.

"We have 19 people with COVID-19 in our hospital today," he said. "Our ICU has been teetering on maximum capacity, to the point where we've actually established plans now of where we'd be able to add more capacity to provide ventilation for people if needed.:

Officials said police and bylaw officers won't hesitate to issue fines during lockdown.

"It's unfortunate," said regional CAO Bruce Lauckner. "We are trying to compel people to do the right thing. I know some people don't want to accept the issues or challenges related to COVID."

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were administered on Tuesday afternoon at Grand River Hospital. The first people to get the vaccine were from Chartwell Elmira Long-Term Care.

Hospital officials said they plan to administer 400 vaccines a day over the next few weeks.

Priority groups like hospital and long-term care staff will get the vaccine first. The general public is asked to be patient until it's their turn.