Canada Has A New Agreement For Almost 8 Million COVID-19 Tests With Results In Minutes
This is a lot of tests and so fast! The almost 8 million COVID-19 tests Canada that has reached a deal for will give results in a matter of minutes.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand announced the new deal during a press conference on September 29.
Canada has signed an agreement with Abbott Rapid Diagnostics for rapid point-of-care tests for COVID-19.
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7,900,000
tests that Canada has reached a deal for
This is an advanced purchase agreement for a nasal swab based point-of-care test that gives results in about 15 minutes.
A point-of-care test allows for doctors or medical staff to get a real-time, lab-quality diagnosis quicker than the days it takes to results with other ones being used now.
Canada will get up to 7.9 million tests from this.
However, that's all conditional on there being regulatory approval from Health Canada.
During the press conference, Dr. Theresa Tam said that Health Canada is reviewing simpler to use and faster tests like spit and swish ones.
She also noted that test result backlogs lead to time lost for contract tracing which can accelerate the spread of the virus because people don't know they've come into contact with someone who tested positive.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise, Justin Trudeau asked people to download Canada's COVID Alert app.