LONGUEUIL -- Nearly 400 students and staff at a high school south of Montreal are now at home isolating on orders from local public health officials.

Monteregie public health ordered all secondary one and two classes at Gerard Filion High School in Longueuil home to isolate after eight teachers and 16 students tested positive for COVID-19.

The Marie-Victorin Service Centre said it will bring in more staff to supervise the students, and students sent home will be supplied with laptops by Friday.

Teachers will be ready to offer them distance learning classes by Monday, the service centre said.

More measures should be in place at the school to limit the spread of infection, said student Maria Jose Pino.

"I think they should at least take our temperatures before entering school," she said, adding that "when someone has symptoms, they should be respectful and not come to school."

Of of Thursday, Quebec officials reported 1,047 COVID-19 cases of COVID-19 across 457 schools in the province.

The most recent data from public health show that the Monteregie area has seen 260 new cases in the last four days, and another 254 the week prior. 

Of the active cases in that region, most of them are in the greater Longueuil area, Roussillon, and Vallee du Richelieu.

Testing centres in the area are seeing long lineups, with many families turned away from an overcrowded testing centre in Saint-Lambert, asked to return at a later time.

The government is now posting wait times online, said Health Minister Christian Dube.

"You can see the delays on each of our centres and I think that will be very accommodating. If you have the choice in your region between one centre or another, you can see if delays and you have a choice," he said.