As the number of COVID cases in the Hastings Prince Edward area continues to rise, local testing centres, particularly Belleville, are experiencing extremely high demand.
With this, Quinte Health Care is asking everyone to book an appointment for a test at any of the local COVID Assessment Centres.
Anyone who does not have an appointment will have to leave the lineup and register for an appointment.
The lineups at the Belleville centre at the former Quinte Secondary School on College Street are especially long with more than 400 people per day currently attending the site for testing.
QHC says there is a higher population of school aged kids getting test right now and that takes longer per swab.
Without pre-registration, each test is taking approximately five to eight minutes.
Officials say that can be cut down to two or three minutes if everyone has an appointment.
Testing centres are also located in Trenton, Picton and Bancroft.
QHC Communications Director Catherine Walker tells Quinte News that they are currently not experiencing any delays providing testing results, with the vast majority of results arriving within 24 hours.
The COVID Assessment Pre-registration page is found at https://www.qhc.on.ca/covid-19.php , or visit the QHC website and click on the “COVID-19 Information” scrolling banner at the top of the page.
Once registered, please wait for an appointment date and time before going to a centre. You will receive an appointment date and time within 24 and 48 hours. If you attend without an appointment, you may be turned away and asked to return when you have an appointment.
