The City of Laval will be adding two new coronavirus testing centres to accommodate the influx of people being screened in the area.
On Thursday, one of two additional testing sites opened its doors in the Chomedey district.
Located at 1200 Chomedey Blvd., the new appointment-only centre saw its first patients.
People lined up outside waiting to be tested for COVID-19 starting at 9 a.m.
The second site, on Cartier Boulevard, will be operational as of 10 a.m. Friday.
The new sites were added to help with the increase in the volume of people at the North Shore screening centres.
Laval regional public health says it has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people being tested.
“The numbers have doubled for the last three days,” CISSS de Laval representative Judith Goudreau said.
The drive-thru testing clinic at the municipal Pierre Creamer area was overwhelmed with people this past week.
The long lineup snaked around the building. People reported wait times that varied from one hour to three hours in some cases.
A number of people told Global News they were turned away on Wednesday night.
Laval resident Tim Lamb said he and his family were told to come back on Thursday morning, as the clinic would not be able to get to them in time before closing hour.
“Thankfully we were waiting in the car. It would have been bad on foot,” Lamb said.
The Laval territory is presently classified as “yellow” or under alert, according to the Quebec government’s newest classification system.
Currently, Laval public health is investigating three schools in the area that have disclosed a small outbreak of COVID-19 and at least one case has been reported in another 20 schools.
Goudreau says the new sites will remain in place and opening hours will be extended across the board to accommodate the influx of people.