A nurse gets a swab ready at a temporary COVID-19 test clinic in Montreal, on Friday, May 15, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)
WINNIPEG — Manitoba is moving to permanently close all provincial COVID-19 testing locations on April 15.
Pre-operative patients who will still require a PCR test after that date will need to make an appointment by calling the provincial call centre at 1-855-268-4318, the Dakota Medical Centre at (204) 254-2087 or the Minor Illness and Injury Clinic at (431) 222-2273.
Beginning Friday, the remaining testing locations will change their hours.
Rapid antigen tests remain widely available at Winnipeg public libraries and retail locations including Co-op (42 locations), Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart (59 locations), London Drugs (one location), Northern, NorthMart and Solo (29 locations), Rexall (18 locations), Save-On-Foods (five locations), Safeway, Sobeys and IGA (40 locations) and Walmart (16 locations).
The province will also no longer update its vaccine dashboards as of Friday.
The last scheduled COVID-19 bulletin was issued on Thursday, with the option of future bulletins being issued as needed. The province will publish weekly epidemiology reports online.
