Coronavirus screening centres coming to 6 Ontario hospitals

Ontario is setting up dedicated coronavirus screening centres at six hospitals around the province in coming days, the Ministry of Health said Thursday.

“As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve globally, Ontario is taking further action to ensure the province’s health care system is positioned to continue to safeguard the health and well-being of Ontarians,” the ministry said in a news release.

The first assessment centres will be established at the following hospitals and health facilities:

• Brampton Civic Hospital
• The Ottawa Hospital
• North York General Hospital
• Mackenzie Health (in Vaughan)
• Scarborough Health Network
• Trillium Health Partners (Mississauga)

The centres will be located in separate spaces to protect other patients. Further screening centres will be set up in the coming weeks, the ministry adds.

As of this morning, there have been 42 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario, many of them concentrated in the Greater Toronto Area. Five of those cases have been resolved.

The Ministry of Health has approved new physician billing codes for telephone assessments, which will allow doctors to do more evaluations that way rather than having people come into their clinics.

The province is also in the early stages of planning to establish at-home testing.

Yesterday, the Ontario government announced a $100-million contingency fund to help health authorities tackle the pandemic in the province.

The City of Toronto has also activated its emergency operations centre, which brings together representatives from all city departments and agencies to plan for a variety of possible scenarios. The purpose is to ensure that the city can continue to deliver core services and information to the public.

CBC