Tender issued for up to 100K COVID tests per day
International travel expected to increase
health Canada is asking the private sector to administer and process up to 100,000 COVID-19 tests per day of mostly asymptomatic people, partly to manage what it says will be “increasing volumes” of international travellers arriving this year.
The tender issued just over a week ago appears to mark a new thrust for coronavirus testing, which is administered now mainly by the provinces and is focused on Canadians with Covid-like symptoms.
It would also boost by as much as 50 per cent the total number of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests done nationally.
The request for proposals says the federal contract could provide surge capacity for provincial authorities, but would also be used on predominantly asymptomatic people coming through various ports of entry, and in quarantine.
Pressure from various corners has been mounting for some kind of screening of people as they enter Canada, both to prevent virus transmission and as a way to eventually help open up foreign travel again.
The advent of new COVID-19 virus mutations that are more readily passed on has heightened focus on international movement in recent days, with calls for further travel restrictions. Ottawa recently required arrivals to have COVID tests done no more than 72 hours before getting here.
“Additional (testing) capacity is required to complement provincial and territorial public health capacity; support a science-based approach to manage increasing volumes of international travellers arriving in Canada; and to limit the spread of new highly transmissible virus variants,” says one of the tender documents.
It notes that Transport Canada is predicting 6.9 million to 9.7 million international travellers showing up here through 2021.
It’s unclear, though, if that would represent an increase. Canada Border Services Agency says that 8.6 million people - half of them truck drivers - arrived here from the time the border was officially “closed” in March last year until Jan. 24. About 74 per cent were exempt from quarantine requirements, said CBSA spokeswoman Jacqueline Callin.
Ontario Premier doug Ford has been among those calling for enhanced testing of people entering the country. The province recently set up a pilot program to offer voluntary tests at Toronto’s Pearson international airport.
“We have to test every person that comes in to Pearson, and any other land crossing,” he said earlier this month. “It’s absolutely critical. We need to put barriers up every which way we can.”
The federal contract calls for PCR tests, the gold standard in accuracy that monitor for the presence of the virus’s genetic material.
That distinguishes it from another federal program. Ottawa is in the process of distributing 38 million rapid tests, most of which look for antigens — virus parts that trigger an immune response — and are less precise.
One prominent public health expert said the new contract makes sense, as screening will be required for the foreseeable future.
“even once vaccines roll out, the need for surveillance PCR testing, particularly at the border, will remain for some time,” said the scientist, asking that he remain anonymous because he’s advising one of the groups bidding on the tender. “While rapid antigen tests are finally being deployed in appropriate circumstances, there is still a need for confirmatory testing.”
Many experts have been pushing for more use at least of rapid tests as a way to screen for COVID-19 among groups of people without symptoms, who could still infect others if they have the COV-SARS-2 virus.
“Widespread rapid testing can help us get back to work and school safely and rebuild the economy while we wait our turn for the vaccine,” said infectious-disease specialist dr. Isaac Bogoch and Goldy hyder, president of the Business Council of Canada, in a recent op-ed article.
The new federal plan appears to parallel a Mcmaster university study last year. It tested thousands of people arriving at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport from outside Canada — after they agreed to take part in the research — and later as they went into isolation.
About one per cent in total tested positive.
The health Canada tender, which closes Thursday, calls for at least 10,000 tests per day across the country, ramping up to as many as 100,000. Contractors would need to administer the swabs, analyze samples and even do contact tracing when they identify infected people, the documents say.
About 200,000 tests are conducted daily across the country currently, the request for proposals said.
Bidders must also limit their reliance on health professionals in collecting samples, says health Canada, and deliver results within 24 to 48 hours for at least 80 per cent of tests.