Over 157,000 COVID-19 Rapid Test Kits Distributed in Alberta on Launch Day 1 | The Canadian News

The Alberta government distributed more than 157,000 rapid test kits on Friday, amid high demand for kits ahead of the holidays.

On Friday morning, the province began offering free COVID-19 antigen test kits to Albertans at more than 700 Alberta Health Services sites and pharmacies across the province.

Each kit contains five rapid tests. The province said the initial launch will see 500,000 test kits distributed throughout the province. Albertans can receive a kit every two weeks, as well as pick up a kit for someone else as long as they have your health care number.

There were long lines at various sites on Friday, and some Albertans reported that they were unable to obtain a kit, despite visiting multiple sites.

“There has been a great uptake in the rapid testing program,” Alberta Health spokeswoman Laura Glover said in an email to Global News Monday morning.

“On Friday, more than 787,000 rapid tests (157,400 kits) were distributed throughout the province.”

The province said that due to the nature of the program, it cannot say how many kits were distributed from individual sites or communities.

Glover said there are two million more rapid tests (400,000 kits) available that will be distributed in the coming days, and another million additional tests (200,000 kits) that will ship later this month.

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Glover said the province ordered another 4.3 million tests in December and expects to increase to 10 million tests a month starting in January.

“We will resupply and expand as quickly as we can get supply from the federal government,” Glover said.

Glover said the test kits were shipped to all five Alberta Health Services zones, but noted that there will be some variations in delivery and arrival times due to various factors, including weather and road conditions.

The province has a list of sites on your website offered by test kits.

The province said it expects to expand to more pharmacies across the province in January, as supply allows.

Prime Minister Jason Kenney announced the launch of rapid antigen test kits last week, as the province also announced a reduction in COVID-19 public health restrictions ahead of the holidays. The easing of the restrictions came as several other provinces announced additional public health measures amid a surge in Omicron COVID-19 cases across Canada.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 4,431 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta. Also as of Friday, the province had identified 173 cases of the Omicron variant.

Alberta does not release COVID-19 data over the weekend. Data for the past three days should be released later on Monday afternoon.

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