Long lines of people hoping to get their hands on a free COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit are expected at Masonville Place Thursday and Friday.
The province is running a two-day pop-up to distribute the test kits at Entrance 6 beside Thaifood restaurant. It will open each day at 9 a.m. with kits being handed out on a first-come, first serve basis while supplies last. There is a limit of one test kit per person.
Anyone without symptoms and who has not recently been in contact with someone with COVID-19 is eligible to receive a free take-home kit. However, supplies are extremely limited with only about 1,000 kits available each day.
With eligibility for PCR tests limited to high-risk individuals who are symptomatic or are at risk of severe illness from the virus, the rapid tests have become the only way for many Ontarians to confirm whether they are infected. That has dramatically increased demand for the rapid test kits.
Similar distributions of the kits held at London LCBO locations in mid-December saw hundreds of people zero-out supplies in just over an hour and a half.
Despite the wind chill which made it feel like minus 16 C, people began lining up outside of Masonville Place just after 6 a.m. Thursday.
