Question Period Note: COVID-19 Rapid Testing for First Nations Communities

• My Department continues to collaboratively work with partners to ensure that Indigenous peoples have access to rapid testing devices.

• As of March 5, 2021, 393 point of care testing instruments, comprising of 119 GeneXpert, 182 Abbott ID NOW, and 92 Panbio instruments have been deployed to First Nations communities and locations across the country.

• We will continue to work with partners in First Nations communities to ensure they have the proper equipment and training procedures to administer these tests.

ISC is working to support access to point-of-care testing in First Nation communities.

Testing can take place in a variety of locations, such as medical clinics and nursing stations.

As announced on October 6, the Government of Canada has signed a new agreement with Abbott Rapid Diagnostics to purchase up to 20.5 million Panbio COVID-19 Antigen rapid tests.

Health Canada has authorized this test for use in Canada. The Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test kit, which is the size of a toaster, can provide results within 13 minutes.

In addition, ISC and NML are procuring an additional 100 GeneXpert instruments capable of running 4 tests at once to supplement the 115 instruments already allocated to ISC.

If pressed on location of Point of Care devices:

• Of the 393 point of care instruments deployed by the Northern, Remote and Isolates initiative, 144 devices are located directly in First Nations. The remaining devices are either in high impact locations where community members usually access health services or to be deployed from central locations.

• ISC and National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) works collaboratively with Indigenous partners in determining the location of point of care system deployments.

• In addition, a rapid response team lead by the NML is able to deploy to settings where point of care testing is not currently available to address surge needs.

If pressed on timelines for testing:

• We are committed to supporting communities in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, including through testing and contact tracing.

• Provincial labs have experienced backlogs in some cases, causing delays in returning test results to communities.

• That is why ISC is working to support access to point-of-care and rapid testing in First Nation communities.

• The Abbott ID NOW is capable of returning test results in 13 minutes or less, the Cepheid GeneXpert in approximately 1 hour, and the Abbott Panbio in 15 minutes.

If pressed on jurisdictional roles:

• COVID-19 testing swabs are provided by provinces to public health units and ISC nursing stations with all confirmatory testing administered by provincial and national laboratories, if required.

• The provinces and territories acknowledge the need to increase testing quickly across Canada and point-of-care tests are being explored for roll out.

• Where ISC provides services directly in First Nations communities, nursing personnel will notify Regional Health Emergency Coordinators and Regional Medical Officers of Health of any probable COVID-19 cases to ensure ISC is ready to provide any additional support required.

If pressed on safety of operations:

• ISC continues to work with partners to ensure that health facilities in Indigenous communities have the proper equipment to support these tests, as well as the training procedures required to administer them.

• To date, 98 training sessions have been provided by the NML to both First Nations and ISC staff in locations implementing the point of care systems.

• ISC supports communities with point of care systems, in providing PPE necessary for the implementation of these systems.

If pressed on procurement and allocation of additional instruments

• The NML directly receives the national procurement of point of care devices for the country.

• Of the national procurement, 20% is allocated to Federal departments, of which, ISC receives half for northern, remote, and isolated communities.

• To address further outbreaks and surge support, ISC and NML have received approval to procure an additional 100 GeneXpert instruments for northern, remote and isolated communities.

• These additional devices are separate from the national procurement and will serve beyond the COVID pandemic given their ability to test for additional pathogens.