Question Period Note: COVIC-19 screening and testing

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• Health Canada (HC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) have worked closely with the provinces and territories (PTs), federal organizations, as well as non-profit organizations, such as the Canadian chambers of commerce, Canadian Red Cross, and pharmacies, to distribute rapid tests and self-tests.Testing remains an important tool of a layered approach to empower Canadians to take personal responsibility and manage individual risk.
• Our Government is providing self-tests and point-of-care tests to support PTs into the fall and winter, and will continue to provide free tests until at least December 2022.
• Our priority is to continue supporting jurisdictions in their efforts to manage COVID-19, ensuring widespread distribution of tests across the country. The Government has established a strategic reserve with 50M tests set aside for PTs in case of surge requirements.

IF PRESSED ON THE EFFICIENCY OF RAPID TESTS WITH NEW VARIANTS
• The Government is closely monitoring variants and is working with PTs, manufacturers, international regulators, and the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess the potential impact of any new variants on the effectiveness of approved tests.
• Current evidence indicates that authorized tests continue to be effective in diagnosing COVID-19. Companies with authorized tests have provided HC evidence demonstrating that their products’ effectiveness is not impacted by Omicron.

IF PRESSED ON TEST EXPIRY
• HC aims to procure tests with longer shelf-life. Tests are shipped out of the federal warehouses based on their shelf-life. Those that are in first are typically those that are out first.
• The inventory life cycle of the rapid testing devices procured under the federal testing initiatives is closely monitored to ensure that tests are not wasted and that value for money is maximized. To date, there have been no expired tests in the HC inventory.

IF PRESSED AS TO WHY CANADA CONTINUES TO PROVIDE FREE RAPID TEST
• By providing frequent and timely information, rapid tests remain an important tool to enable Canadians to take responsibility and to manage their individual risks.
• International partners including the US, Germany, Australia, and Japan have ended or are planning to end free distribution of rapid tests. Canada is also planning to transition to a more sustainable management of COVID-19.
• The government will continue to supply rapid tests to PTs until at least December 2022.
• The government will continue to support the free distribution of rapid tests to vulnerable populations via the Canadian Red Cross.

Testing remains an important tool to empower people in Canada to take personal responsibility and manage individual risk by providing them with frequent, timely information.

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 811M rapid tests, at a total cost of $5B.

In total since the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government has shipped over 650M 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.

A key priority of the Government of Canada is supporting domestic bio-manufacturing capacity for rapid tests. The government’s commitment to the bio-manufacturing sector is outlined in Budget 2021, which includes a $2.2 billion investment over the next seven years. The government also continues to authorize rapid tests from domestic manufacturers in order to enable domestic procurement for rapid antigen diagnostic capacity for future healthcare needs and pandemic preparedness.

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 Arctic Co-Operative stores across the two territories. Tests became available to local residents starting February 25, 2022.

Workplace Screening

Health Canada will continue to provide tests to SMEs through pharmacy distributors until September 30, 2022, allowing rapid test distribution by pharmacies to SMEs to continue for the following months. Given significant reserves, availability of tests for SMEs is expected to last until Spring 2023. Charities, non-profits and Indigenous community organizations can acquire rapid tests through the Canadian Red Cross free of charge across Canada.

July 29, 2022 was the last date for final rapid test orders for direct distribution to large organizations employing 200 people or more.

• On July 27, 2020, the Government of Canada announced it would 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, of which over $3 billion went directly to PTs.
• The adoption of Bill C-8 and Bill C-10 provided Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada an additional $4.22 billion to support the procurement and distribution of rapid tests in order to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and keep Canadians safe.
• As of September 6, 2022, the Government of Canada has approved 41 point-of-care rapid tests, as well as 23 self-tests.
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has ordered over 811M rapid tests, at a total cost of $5B.
• The government shipped over 650M rapid tests to PTs, over 8.2M to large businesses, ~5.3M to pharmacies, and ~6M to the Canadian Red Cross.
• In 2022 alone, the federal government has shipped over 530.4M rapid tests to PTs.
• The Government of Canada is continuing to supply rapid tests to PTs on a per capita basis. Given significant provincial holdings and federal reserves, distribution is currently scheduled until December 2022.
• To support small and medium-sized enterprises into the fall and the winter, HC has provided additional tests to pharmacy distributors. Distribution to pharmacies was completed in September 2022 and until the end of September 2022; rapid test distribution will continue until the supply is exhausted.