Ottawa is moving to end the spread of rapid tests for COVID-19 in the provinces and territories by the end of the year, CBC News has learned, but will maintain a strategic reserve of tests.
“As we approach the next phase of our response to COVID-19, we will continue to support provinces and territories by providing rapid tests until December 2022,” the Canadian Public Health Agency (PHAC) told CBC News.
The agency said the federal government would maintain a strategic reserve of 100 million rapid tests “as part of an overall national preparedness strategy.”
Fifty million will be set aside for the provinces and territories, and the remaining 50 million will be retained to meet the common requirements for growth, PHAC said.
From October 2020, the federal government will provide free rapid tests to provinces and territories.
For many Canadians, rapid antigen testing has replaced large-scale PCR testing; fewer people are already eligible for PCR testing across the country after high demand for tests at Omicron wave testing centers.
Dr Stephanie Smith, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, said the decision to stop the spread of rapid tests in the provinces must be combined with changes in quarantine policies.
Many provinces require those who test COVID-19 to be isolated for five days.
In much of Canada, rapid antigen testing is replacing large-scale molecular testing, such as PCR. (Paul Smith / CBC)
“If the public has no way to confirm that there really is COVID, I don’t think we can expect people to be able to stay at home,” she said.
“If we are going to stop a program that provides rapid testing, then we must also consider, if we do not have rapid testing, what should we do with our quarantine policies?”
As for the strategic reserve, Smith said the pandemic reveals that it is always best to be prepared, although she noted that rapid tests have become less reliable when it comes to Omicron.
“If the government has a fairly large stock of these rapid antigen tests, it certainly makes sense to keep them in reserve – again, if we have an option for which testing is appropriate, and we have a growing number of cases where we actually need to so we can identify someone with COVID, ”she said.
The news that Canada will maintain a reserve of rapid tests comes a year after a scathing report by the chief auditor showed that the National Strategic Emergency Reserve (NESS) is terribly insufficient to respond to a pandemic.
The May 2021 report found that the PHAC had failed to address “long-standing problems” with how personal protective equipment and other medical devices were managed in the NESS, which was set up in part to supply provinces and territories with important goods. a time of crisis like the COVID -19 pandemic.
In response, the federal government has promised to improve emergency supplies before the next crisis.
Update on supply and distribution
Meanwhile, the federal government has provided an update on the number of rapid tests it purchased and distributed under Bill C-10, which passed in March and gave Health Canada the opportunity to purchase rapid tests worth up to $ 2.5 billion and distribute them to the provinces. territories and indigenous communities.
A report presented by Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos to the House of Commons on Thursday revealed that Ottawa had spent more than $ 730 million between March 4 and May 25 this year to buy 118.7 million tests in the three-month period.
Approximately 101 million of the tests have been shipped, and approximately 17 million are currently in the Federal Reserve.
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