FEDS TO BOLSTER PROVINCIAL TESTING, CONTACT TRACING

The federal government will fund provincial efforts to test people for COVID-19, track the contacts of those who test positive and help jurisdictions share data, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday. Canada nominally has the capacity to test 60,000 people per day for COVID-19, but has been averaging only about 28,000 tests per day. Trudeau said federal contact tracers are helping public health authorities in Ontario and are ready to make thousands more calls a day when any province asks. Statistics Canada has also provided 1,700 interviewers who can make 20,000 calls per day to help with contact-tracing efforts, he said. “We need to get in touch with everyone who may have been exposed to the virus to make sure they quarantine and monitor themselves for symptoms or get tested,” Trudeau said.