Canada will send the armed forces and Red Cross to Ontario to help the country's most populous province as it struggles to cope with a surge in hospitalisations from Covid-19, the country's public safety minister said.

The federal government approved a request from Ontario which would include air lifting medical personnel from the Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador to Toronto, the epicentre of Ontario's third wave, a spokesman from Public Safety Canada said in a statement, without giving details of personnel involved.

Bill Blair, minister of Public Safety Canada, said the federal government has agreed to provide support to the provincial healthcare system, according to Reuters.

Ontario reported 877 people in its intensive care units with COVID-19 on Monday. Provincial modelling showed the virus could see 1,500 people in the ICU by early May.