London’s mayor is calling on the province to make rapid testing more widely available as COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise with the Omicron variant becoming the dominant strain.
During the Middlesex London Health Unit’s COVID-19 media briefing on Monday, acting medical officer of health Dr. Alex Summers told reports that he considers the COVID-19 Omicron variant to be the dominant variant in the region.
This comes after the Ontario government made a similar statement about the variant’s spread province-wide.
With news of the more contagious variant taking over, London Mayor Ed Holder is calling for rapid COVID-19 tests to be made more readily available.
“I asked the Ontario government to act and assume that rapid testing kits are released to the public and if we need more that we get more,” Holder said.
Holder said with the wait times to book a test at a testing clinic, it is imperative people have easier access to help stop the spread of the virus.
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While the rapid test is not as accurate as going to a testing clinic, Holder said it would help give people more assurance faster.
The MLHU is reporting 71 new cases on Tuesday with 475 active cases and 14,760 now resolved.
The province has said students will be sent home over the winter break with five rapid tests and tests have been given to schools in areas of high transmission. The tests are also available for free to businesses in Ontario.
The London Chamber of Commerce has free rapid tests to hand out to any business with under 150 people.
Aside from this, rapid tests will cost people $40 each at Shoppers Drug Mart.
Health care workers in the province, though have been calling on the Ford government to provide free rapid antigen tests to all Ontarians.
— With files from Global News’ Caryn Lieberman
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