OTTAWA -- A COVID-19 testing centre in Ottawa's downtown core is pausing operations as demand drops for assessments across the capital.

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says after careful consideration with a number of key partners, the testing operations at the McNabb Community Centre will close as of Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m.

The assessment centre at the community centre on Percy Street opened in November to provide another testing option for residents who live in Centretown, Hintonburg, Westboro and the Glebe.

"This pause will minimally impact residents in the downtown core who are seeking COVID-19 testing," said the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce in a statement.

"Initially, when the McNabb site was in early development, there were no additional options for testing in the downtown core, especially for those who required walk-up testing. Now, in addition to the McNabb site, two other sites have been operationalized downtown to serve this population — namely the Somerset West Community Health Centre and Centretown Community Health Centre."

The Centretown Community Health Centre is open for COVID-19 testing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Somerset West Community Health Centre is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"If testing volumes increase and there is the need to provide additional testing capacity in the downtown core, the taskforce has the tools and resources to reopen McNabb’s testing site in a matter of days," said the taskforce.

According to daily COVID-19 statistics provided by the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce, 415 COVID-19 tests were performed at the McNabb Community Centre between Feb. 1 and 4.

The COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at the National Arts Centre is also open for testing.

NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE TESTING SITE

Starting Monday, residents from outside of Ontario can be tested for COVID-19 at the COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at the National Arts Centre.

The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says the drive-thru assessment centre will accept residents with any valid Canadian health card. Previously, only residents with Ontario Health Insurance Plan cards could be tested at the facility.

"The transition to expand to other provincial health cards is being made to better support accessible testing for all residents in the Ottawa-area."