HEALTH CANADA OKs RAPID TEST KITS ALREADY ON ORDER

Health Canada approved a rapid test for COVID-19 on Wednesday, a day after the government said it had a deal to buy nearly eight million of the Abbott Diagnostics ID Now tests, which have been in use in the United States for several months. Abbott's website says the test can produce results in less than 13 minutes in the same place a nasal swab is taken. On Tuesday, Procurement Minister

Anita Anand said Ottawa had signed a deal with Abbott to buy 7.9 million of the test kits, including the swabs and reagents needed, and 3,800 of the toaster-sized analysis units that process the results. Health Canada has emergency authority to quickly approve tests for COVID-19 and has been under increasing pressure to allow the use of rapid testing in Canada as cases surge.