Question Period Note: TESTING CAPACITY

• What is the Government of Canada doing to ensure that Canadians have access to effective COVID-19 testing?

KEY MESSAGES
• Our Government is working aggressively to procure tests to meet both current and future demand as testing continues to increase across the country.
• As part of this work, we purchased five rapid tests – the Cepheid GeneXpert, Abbott ID NOW, Abbott Panbio, BD Veritor and Quidel Sofia– and have worked with our provincial and territorial counterparts to allocate and distribute them.
• Cepheid GeneXpert tests began shipments in the spring of 2020, and the first shipment of Abbott tests were sent in late October 2020. Shipments to provinces and territories will continue each week as supply arrives in Canada.
• To date, 42M tests have been delivered to Canada, including over 6.5 million Abbott ID NOW tests, 22.9 million Abbott Panbio tests, 11.6 million BD Veritor tests and 850 thousand Quidel Sofia. These tests are being provided to provinces and territories at no cost to them.
• Provinces and territories decide how to deploy these technologies, informed by the Pan-Canadian Testing and Screening Guidance that was released in October.
• Through the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government provided funding to accelerate development of provincial and territorial diagnostic testing capacity. National capacity has now exceeded the 200,000 tests per day target.
• We have also put into place surge support for provinces and territories, including for contact tracing, testing sample collection, and test processing capacity in federal laboratories.
• As our top priority, we will be continuing all efforts to support jurisdictions in their efforts to manage COVID-19.

IF PRESSED ON HOW CANADA IS INCREASING TESTING CAPACITY
• My department continues to work with colleagues in Public Services and Procurement Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and the National Research Council to identify and support new and emerging testing and screening products and platforms.
• As emerging testing and screening products or platforms become available and approved for use in Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada will work with provincial public health laboratories to acquire them to augment existing testing capacity.

IF PRESSED ON BORDER TESTING

• The Government of Canada has implemented robust measures at Canada’s borders to prevent and mitigate the importation of new COVID-19 cases associated with international travel.
• The Government of Canada continues to work with various provinces, territories and partners to implement innovative and scientifically grounded measures at Canada’s international border.
• Border testing pilot projects are a means to help generate scientific evidence to inform development and/or enhance various policies and programs that prevent introduction and spread of disease in Canadian communities.
IF PRESSED ON THE EXPERT PANEL BORDER’S REPORT
· On May 27, 2021, the Minister of Health welcomed the COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel’s report, Priority Strategies to Optimize Testing and Quarantine at Canada’s Borders, which provides evidence-based advice and recommendations on border testing and quarantine measures to prevent and control transmission of COVID-19.
· The Public Health Agency of Canada is reviewing the evidence presented by the Panel as well as its recommendations to help inform the evolution of future border and travel measures considering vaccination status.
· In addition, the government is engaging provinces and territories on their perspectives on the Panel’s recommendations.
· The Government of Canada will be prudent in its approach moving forward as it gradually adjusts border measures, with the health and safety of Canadians top of mind.

BACKGROUND
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada work closely with provincial and territorial officials and laboratories in support of a coordinated approach and conducting laboratory testing for the virus that causes COVID-19. As of June 2, nearly 35 million tests for COVID-19 were performed in Canada.
On July 27, 2020, the Government of Canada announced it will provide $4.28 billion, as part of over $19 billion announced by the Prime Minister on July 16, 2020 as part of the Safe Restart Agreement, to further expand testing and contact tracing capacity, and the associated data management and information sharing systems. The objective of the Safe Restart Agreement is to ensure that Canada has the resources and information it needs to reopen the economy safely.
Beginning September 3, a table outlining progress by provinces and territories in increasing their testing capacity, including weekly updates on current testing capacity for each province and territory compared to the capacity target agreed to under the Safe Restart Agreement, has been published online.

As of May 31, the projected maximum testing capacity reported by provinces and territories was 238,280 tests/day, exceeding the original testing capacity target of 200,000 tests/day as articulated by provinces and territories under the Safe Restart Agreement. The federal government has activated additional laboratory capacity to assist provinces and territories with the processing of tests. The labs will perform diagnostic analysis and relay results to public health authorities. Six federal labs are currently operational and can provide an additional capacity of approximately 12,000 tests per day. To date, federal surge support for laboratory testing has responded to requests from Prince Edward Island, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, as well as Correctional Services Canada. Efforts to increase surge capacity are ongoing.
As we move into the next phase of lifting some public health measures and re-opening some parts of the economy, cases of COVID-19 will still occur until the population has enough immunity or a vaccine is available to prevent the disease.
Testing will remain an important tool to detect and isolate new cases, follow up with close contacts, stop spread of the virus and prevent outbreaks in the community. In this next phase, testing will be critical for groups that are more vulnerable to complications from COVID-19. This testing will be an early warning for our healthcare system.
Health Canada has been working with manufacturers to enable market access for commercial diagnostic devices in order to increase Canada’s COVID-19 diagnostic capacity.

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