Question Period Note: COVID-19 TESTING CAPACITY

• Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada are working closely with the provinces and territories, federal organisations, as well as distribution channels in the private sector and non-profit organisations, such as the Canadian chambers of commerce, Canadian Red Cross and pharmacies, to distribute the Cepheid GeneXpert, Abbott ID NOW, Abbott Panbio, BD Veritor, Quidel Sofia, Quidel QuickVue, Lucira, BTNX Rapid Response and Roche SD Biosensor rapid tests.

KEY MESSAGES
• Our Government is working aggressively to procure rapid tests, including self-tests, to meet both current and future demand as testing needs continue to increase across the country.

• As of November 26, the Government of Canada has approved 24 rapid tests, and funded, procured, and received 94.6M rapid tests, which have been distributed to PTs, federal workplaces, and distribution channels in the private sector and non-profit organizations. A strategic reserve has also been created.

• As our top priority, we will be continuing all efforts to support jurisdictions in their efforts to manage COVID-19.
IF PRESSED ON THE TESTS EFFECTIVENESS VIS-À-VIS NEW VARIANT OMICRON

• My department is in close contact with the tests manufacturers authorised in Canada to make sure their tests can detect the new variant Omicron.

• Health Canada has requested data from some manufacturers to demonstrate the effectiveness of their tests vis-à-vis Omicron. We are awaiting their information.

• If an issue is identified, we will work quickly with the manufacturers and public health laboratories to mitigate those risks and inform Canadians.
IF PRESSED ON WHICH TESTS WERE PURCHASED AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION…
• As part of this work, we purchased nine rapid and self-tests – the Cepheid GeneXpert, Abbott ID NOW, Abbott Panbio, BD Veritor, Quidel Sofia, Quidel QuickVue, Lucira, Roche SD Biosensor and BTNX Rapid Response – and have worked with our provincial and territorial counterparts to allocate and distribute them.

• In addition, the federal government continues to support multiple distribution channels to achieve broad reach of rapid antigen tests and self-tests.

• This includes shipping tests to businesses and non-profits through direct delivery and distribution partners like the Canadian Red Cross and pharmacies.

• It also includes supporting chambers of commerce distribute test kits to small and medium sized enterprises.

• As of November 26, 2021, over 3.8 million tests have been shipped directly to the private sector or are in fulfillment. 1.87 million additional tests have been sent to other channels (pharmacies and the Canadian Red Cross) for their distribution to SMEs, non-profits/charities/Indigenous organizations.

• Provinces and territories decide how to deploy these technologies, informed by the Pan-Canadian Testing and Screening Guidance that was released in October 2020 and updated in August 2021.

• As of November 24, 2021, Health Canada has distributed over 465 000 Quidel QuickVue tests to more than 125 federal organizations (federal departments/agencies and Crown corporations) across the country, to support the Federal Workplace vaccination requirements. Mandatory testing is required, for employees who must work on-site and who are either unable to be fully vaccinated for whom there is a duty to accommodate, or as a temporary measure for individuals partially vaccinated.
IF PRESSED ON NATIONAL DAILY CAPACITY…
• Through the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government provided funding to accelerate development of provincial and territorial diagnostic testing capacity. National capacity is around 237,000 per day.

• 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.
IF PRESSED ON HOW CANADA IS INCREASING ITS TESTING CAPACITY…
• My department continues to work with their 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 such as self-tests, 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.

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 December 1st, almost 49 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.
Since September 3, 2020, 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 October 31, the projected maximum testing capacity reported by provinces and territories was 237,353 tests/day, exceeding the original testing capacity target of 200,000 tests/day as articulated by provinces and territories under the Safe Restart Agreement.
Province/ Territory Testing Capacity Commitment under the SRA (tests/day) Projected Max. Testing Capacity*
(tests/day) Capacity as % of Commitment
BC 20,000 19,628 101%
AB 22,000 22,000 100%
SK 4,000 3000 112%
MB 3,000 4000 117%
ON 78,000 124,700 160%
QC 35,000 46,915 132%
NB 2,500-3,000 3,000 100-120%
NS 2,500 10,000 400%
PE 835 850 102%
NL 2,500-3,000 2,700 90-108%
NU N/A 300 N/A
NWT 225 110 49%
YT 160 150 94%
TOTAL 170,720 – 171,720 237,353 >100%

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.
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.
The workplace screening initiative will remain an integral part of the overall testing strategy. SMEs will continue to be able to acquire rapid tests for workplace screening at select pharmacy locations in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Alternatively, SMEs can also pick up rapid tests for free at participating local chambers of commerce in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Charities, Non-Profits and Indigenous Community Organizations can acquire rapid tests through the Canadian Red Cross for free, in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
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.

KEY FACTS
• On July 27, 2020, the Government of Canada announced it will provide $4.28 billion, as part of the Safe Restart Agreement, to further expand testing and contact tracing capacity, and the associated data management and information sharing systems.
• As of November 26, the Government of Canada has approved 24 rapid tests, funded, procured, and received 94.6M rapid tests, which have been distributed to PTs, federal workplaces, and distribution channels in the private sector and non-profit organizations. A strategic reserve has also been created.
• Through the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government provided funding to accelerate development of provincial and territorial diagnostic testing capacity. National capacity is around 237,000 tests per day.