Brampton has overtaken Toronto as Ontario's—and effectively one of Canada's—top hotspots for COVID-19 cases per capita.

While Toronto still has a higher number of daily cases, Brampton has seen a spike in active cases, reporting 61 active cases per 100,000 residents compared to Toronto's 53 as of yesterday.

Population density, testing and community disease prevalence may be contributing factors, as well as people continuing to disregard social distancing measures set out by the city and province.

More and more complaints about bylaw infractions have been made, including illegal gatherings in parking lots and backyard parties.

Over the last three weeks, more than 100 charges have been laid in relation to parties, including 92 spread out over 24 parties in the first week of June, some of which had up to 30 to 40 people in attendance.

Throughout the pandemic lockdown, parties in parking lots and private residents have been a persistence issue for the city. But now as parts of the province move into Stage 2, folks in the Golden Horseshoe region, including Peel, are being held back.

Another reason for Brampton's difficulty with the virus may be due to aspects of its vulnerable populations, Colin Furness, an epidemiologist from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health told CityNews.

"In Brampton it's new Canadians and there's poverty. They're very often racialized persons, they're in essential work, low status, low pay, high-risk jobs. They don't have the means and the choice to work from home," he said.

"I see a convergence between the public health challenges we have right now and the anti-racism movement we have right now. We can do better."

Mayor Patrick Brown and health officials continue to stress the need to practice health and safety measures set down by all levels of government while the city puts extra measures in place, such as making non-medical masks mandatory on public transit.