OTTAWA -- With Ontario no longer offering free COVID-19 tests for international travellers needing a negative test for pre-flight clearance, there are private providers offering COVID-19 tests in the national capital region.
The Riverside Travel Medicine Clinic is offering the COVID-19 PRC test for $189.
Effective Dec. 11, free COVID-19 tests are no longer offered at Ottawa's COVID-19 assessment centres for travellers needing a negative COVID-19 test for an international trip. The move came after the Ontario government announced changes to COVID-19 testing guidelines.
“This step is being taken to ensure taxpayer dollars are appropriately allocated to key priorities and to preserve capacity within the provincially funded COVID-19 testing network,” the provincial government said in a news release.
The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Task Force says there are two private providers in the national capital region offering COVID-19 testing for international pre-travel clearance:
- Riverside Travel Medicine Clinic on Riverside Drive in Ottawa. For more information, visit www.travelclinic.org
- Lacroix Medical Clinic in Gatineau. Call 819-778-1330
The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says it anticipates private lab testing to become "more accessible" for Ottawa residents in the coming weeks.
Fourteen Shoppers Drug Mart locations in the Greater Toronto Area offer the COVID-19 test for international travellers. The cost is $199.
COVID-19 tests are free for anyone in Ontario who is asymptomatic or who have been in contact with someone who has symptoms.
