A Canadian Rapid COVID-19 Test That Gives Results In An Hour May Have Just Been Approved

There is possibly a new option for a COVID-19 rapid test in Canada according to this Ottawa-based biotechnology company.

Spartan Bioscience said on January 23 that its Spartan COVID-19 System has been approved by Health Canada and is now allowed to be sold.

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Readily deployed, rapid testing systems for COVID-19 are still needed across Canada, and will continue to be needed throughout 2021, even as vaccines begin to roll out. Roger Eacock

Spartan Bioscience said that it has the speed and ease of a rapid test and the technology of a lab-based test.

Apparently, it will be able to provide results in places where there is limited lab access like remote communities.

Roger Eacock, the company's CEO, said that rapid testing is going to be needed across Canada in 2021 "even as vaccines begin to roll out."

*Over Twitter, the company told Narcity that their rapid COVID-19 test takes about an hour to be completed.

On Twitter, the Ottawa-based company was congratulated on the approval by the city's mayor.

Spartan Bioscience's rapid test was first approved in April 2020 but was restricted to research use a month later by Health Canada because of concerns about reliability according to CBC News.

The company had said then that the concern was about the swabs, not the device itself.

*An earlier version of this article reported incorrect result times. It has been updated with accurate information.