Question Period Note: COVID-19 SCREENING AND TESTING

• Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada are working closely with the provinces and territories, federal organizations, as well as distribution channels in the private sector and non-profit organizations, such as the Canadian chambers of commerce, Canadian Red Cross and pharmacies, to distribute rapid tests and self tests.

IF PRESSED ON THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH USE OF RAPID ANTIGEN TEST KITS
• Health Canada is aware of calls made to poison centres in Canada related to accidental exposure to certain ingredients in rapid antigen test kits, which have resulted in minor health outcomes and no lasting effects.
• Health Canada has advised Canadians about potential risks associated with the misuse or accidental ingestion or spillage of COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit solutions.
• The kits are safe and effective when used as intended.
• Distribution and use of testing devices should be done in accordance with provincial or territorial guidance.

IF PRESSED ON WHICH TESTS WERE ORDERED AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION…
• As part of this work, the federal government ordered rapid and self-tests from various suppliers – the Cepheid GeneXpert, Biomérieux Canada, Abbott ID NOW, Abbott Panbio, BD Veritor, Quidel Sofia, Quidel QuickVue, Lucira, Roche SD Biosensor, BTNX Rapid Response, Artron COVID-19 antigen test, Switch Health SD Biosensor, Trimedic Assuretech, CanAM SD Biosensor, Precision Compounds – 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.
• To date, Health Canada distributed over 7.3 million to organizations of the private sector for workplace testing.
• To improve access by small-medium sized organizations, Health Canada also developed partnerships with pharmacies for test distribution to small-medium sized businesses. Over 5.3M tests were provided to pharmacies for this initiative.
• Health Canada has also collaborated with the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) to distribute tests to non-profit and charitable organizations for workplace screening of employees and volunteers. Approximately 800K tests were provided to the CRC for this initiative to date. Furthermore, with the objective of ensuring that vulnerable people are able to access tests and masks, Health Canada has also worked with the CRC to identify community partners who would provide tests and masks to their clients. Up to now, over 3.9M tests were provided to the CRC for this initiative
• In support of the federal vaccination mandate, as well as voluntary testing of front-line public servants at organizations including Correctional Service Canada, Health Canada has also provided over 5.8M rapid tests to federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations, as of May 24, 2022.

IF PRESSED ON NATIONAL DAILY CAPACITY…
• Under the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government funded the acceleration of the development of testing capacity in the provinces and territories. The national capacity is about 200,000 per day.
• During the Omicron-driven wave of the pandemic, testing demand exceeded available laboratory capacity in most jurisdictions. In response, most P/T jurisdictions limited the use of PCR testing to diagnose COVID-19 to specific target groups, including the unvaccinated, immunocompromised, or those working or living in high-risk settings, with public health testing guidance varying between jurisdictions.
• 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 BILL C-8 AND BILL C-10…
• Bill C-10, An Act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19 received Royal Assent on March 4, 2022. This bill authorizes the Minister of Health to make payments of up to $2.5 billion out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund in relation to COVID rapid tests and also grants the Minister authority to distribute COVID-19 rapid tests to provinces and territories, any organization and any person in Canada. A report regarding the use of the funding will be tabled to Parliament in June, in accordance with commitments made by the Health Minister.
• Bill C-8, An Act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update tabled in Parliament on December 14, 2021 and other measures, is currently with Parliament for consideration, and would authorize Health Canada to make payments up to $1.72 billion out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund in relation to COVID rapid tests. Health Canada received $700 million and PHAC received $1.017 billion in 2021-2022 Supplementary Estimates C for Bill C-8.

IF PRESSED ON HOW CANADA IS EDUCATING PUBLIC ON PROPER USE OF RAPID TESTS…
• While COVID-19 testing education and guidance predominately lies within provincial and territorial jurisdiction, the Government of Canada supports these efforts.
• In December 2021, Health Canada launched two national public health measures advertising campaigns (The Rhythm and Safe Celebrations) to encourage Canadians to continue practicing public health measures, including the use of rapid tests.
• The Canada.ca COVID-19 website continues to be updated to ensure Canadians have access to the most updated information on testing, including use, distribution and procurement.
• The Government of Canada also support many interprovincial fora to support knowledge sharing across provinces and territories.

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.
• Thanks to the Government of Canada support, Artron, a rapid test developed and manufactured in Canada has been approved by Health Canada and is now part of our procurement of rapid tests.
• 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.

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.

Through the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government provided funding to accelerate development of provincial and territorial diagnostic testing capacity. National capacity is around 200,000 tests per day. However, resulting from the rapid surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant, access to PCR testing has been restricted for symptomatic high priority groups in all provinces and territories.

The 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update proposed to provide $1.72 billion to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to continue supporting the procurement of rapid tests. In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has ordered over 603M rapid tests, at a total cost of $4B.

Since September 3, 2020, an online table records 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.

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.

Procurement and Distribution of Tests to Provinces and Territories

The Government of Canada has been a leader in funding, procuring and distributing rapid tests through multiple channels across Canada, and has been providing rapid tests to provinces and territories since October 2020.
In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has ordered over 603M rapid tests, at a total cost of $4B.

Initial test approval focused on point of care molecular tests. Point of care molecular tests are widely recognized as sound options for diagnostic testing in instances where lab-based PCR testing is not available. In consultations with provinces and territories, the Government of Canada prioritized the procurement and deployment of molecular tests to health and long-term care settings as well as for northern, remote and isolated communities.

In recent months, the focus has been on the procurement and distribution of rapid antigen tests, including self tests, and rapidly boosting supply to respond to the increasing demand due to Omicron. This also marked a shift away from previous demand-led supply of tests to provinces and territories, most of which were early adopters of general population access to rapid testing in December, towards a per capita allocation of tests as of January 2022.

In total, the federal government has shipped over 480M rapid tests to provinces and territories. These rapid antigen tests have supported the broader testing strategies that provinces and territories have implemented including for screening in hospitals and other health care settings, as well as for expanded school based testing, workplace screening, as well as community and general population testing.

The 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update proposed to provide $1.72 billion to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to continue supporting the procurement of rapid tests.

An additional off-cycle budget request of $2.5 billion was approved in January 2022. The Minister sought a statutory authority through Bill C-10 to access these funds to ensure consistent supply and distribution of tests into the Spring to PTs, organizations and any person in Canada.

A key priority of the Government of Canada is supporting domestic bio-manufacturing capacity for rapid tests. The Government of Canada’s commitment to the bio-manufacturing sector is outlined in Budget 2021, which includes a $2.2 billion investment over the next seven years. Artron, a rapid test developed and manufactured in Canada has been approved by Health Canada and is now part of Government of Canada’s procurement of rapid tests. The Government of Canada has procured 27.7M tests from Artron to date.

Public Education

While COVID-19 testing education and guidance predominately lies within provincial and territorial jurisdiction, the Government of Canada supports these efforts through multiple prongs.

In December 2021, Health Canada launched two national public health measures advertising campaigns (The Rhythm and Safe Celebrations) to encourage Canadians to continue practising public health measures, including the use of rapid tests.

The Canada.ca COVID-19 website continues to be updated on an ongoing basis to ensure Canadians have access to the most updated information around testing importance, distribution to provinces, workplaces and procurement they need.

Health Canada published the Pan-Canadian Testing and Screening Guidance in October 2020, and updated it in August 2021. The updates to the guidance were informed by a report on Testing for COVID-19 in Vaccinated Populations, which included recommendations based on the latest scientific literature.

Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Lab published an interim guidance on antigen testing in October 2020.

In addition, the Minister of Health established a Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel in November 2020 that provided evidence-informed advice in five reports covering testing and screening, long-term care, schools, borders and self-testing. The Panel has been on hiatus since August 2021.

The Government of Canada also support many interprovincial fora to support knowledge sharing across provinces and territories.

Workplace Screening

The workplace screening initiative will wind down in the coming months. SMEs will be able to place an order for rapid tests for workplace screening at select pharmacy locations in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia until the end of September 2022. 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.

The Government of Canada will continue to take orders for rapid tests for direct distribution to large organizations employing more than 200 people up until July:
• Organizations of 1000 employees or more can place final orders of rapid tests through the CanadaBuys Service Portal until June 30, 2022.
• Organizations of fewer than 1000 employees will be provided additional time to transition with orders until July 29, 2022.

Building on workplace screening initiatives, the Government of Canada is increasing access to COVID-19 rapid antigen tests for people in Canada’s North. The Government of Canada is working with the Governments of Northwest Territories and Nunavut to distribute COVID-19 rapid tests free of charge at NorthMart and Northern stores across the two territories. Tests became available to local residents starting February 25, 2022.

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.
• The 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update proposed to provide $1.72 billion to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to continue supporting the procurement of rapid tests.
• An additional off-cycle budget request of $2.5 billion was approved in January 2022. The Minister obtained statutory authority through Bill C-10, which received Royal Assent on March 4, 2022, to access these funds.
• In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has ordered over 603M rapid tests, at a total cost of $4B.
• In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has shipped over 480M rapid tests to provinces and territories, over 7.3M tests to large businesses, over 5.3M tests to pharmacies, and nearly 4M to the Canadian Red Cross.
• Since January 1, 2022, the federal government has shipped over 365M rapid tests to provinces and territories
• As of June 7, 2022, the Government of Canada has approved 35 point-of-care rapid tests, as well as 18 self-tests.
• Through the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government provided funding to accelerate development of provincial and territorial diagnostic testing capacity. National capacity is around 200,000 tests per day. However, resulting from the rapid surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant, access to PCR testing has been restricted for symptomatic high priority groups in all provinces and territories.
• The Government of Canada will continue to supply rapid tests to provinces and territories on a per capita basis, gradually decreasing until December 2022.
• The Government of Canada will continue to take orders for rapid tests for direct distribution to large organizations employing more than 200 people up until July:
• Organizations of 1000 employees or more must can place orders of rapid tests through the CanadaBuys Service Portal until June 30, 2022.
• Organizations of 200-1000 employees will be provided additional time to transition with orders place until July 29, 2022.