FASTER TESTING ON THE WAY, FEDS SAY

Timeline vague in race to ramp up response

OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he knows a crucial factor in managing COVID-19 without shutting down the economy is to test, test, test for the virus.

“We know that massive testing has been part of the solution in places that have managed to contain or slow the spread of COVID-19,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. “That is why we are investing significantly in increasing both our testing capacity and the speed with which we will be able to respond.”

But while the country’s testing capacity is improving and federal officials hope to roll out better technology soon, it’s still not clear how quickly Canada can get to the point where results are available in hours, not days, and backlogs in provincial testing labs are eliminated.

Such improvements would allow health authorities to significantly expand the availability of tests, making it much easier to track the spread of the virus and prevent infections.

There has been steady growth in Canada’s overall testing capacity. On Tuesday, federal officials said about 120,000 tests have now been completed nationally, an increase of 18,000 over the previous day. That number had been rising by 10,000 daily over the weekend.

Trudeau said he discussed testing issues with the premiers in a phone call Monday night.

“We know that there are also backlogs and challenges, particularly in more remote or more overburdened jurisdictions to get those test results back quickly,” Trudeau said.

Direct testing comparisons between provinces is difficult due to inconsistent availability of public data and varying reporting standards.

But Ontario has been reporting its backlog number daily, and it has risen steadily over the past week from 1,567 to 10,074. There have been many reports of people waiting as much as a week to get their results back.

David Williams, Ontario’s chief public health officer, said on Tuesday that Ontario is currently processing more than 2,000 tests per day, and hopes to be at 5,000 tests per day by the end of the week. He said the province is evaluating different technologies for faster response times, though some of it isn’t yet on the market for purchase.

In earlier comments, Williams outlined what it takes to scale up the provincial lab capacity, and said officials are working around the clock to make it happen.

“We’re going to ramp up extensively, and when you’re doing that, it’s not just simply asking people to start doing (more of ) something that they’ve been doing already,” he said Saturday.

“You have to get the new equipment out there, you have to get the proper reagents (the chemicals used in the processes), you then have to do the preliminary testing and do quality checks ... Usually this would take us four to six, almost eight weeks to get up and running. They’re trying to get it up in two weeks.”

Meanwhile, drive-thru screening and testing centres are now open in Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg and other cities, which should allow for much faster detection of cases than having patients wait for a referral and an appointment.

Last week, Health Minister Patty Hajdu signed an order for “expedited access” in Canada for two types of diagnostic test kits that could provide early detection of the virus. The kits both promise to process results in hours.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, said those kits will be particularly useful in more remote areas.

“Some of the difficulty in turnaround time is that you have to fly samples through, even if the referral lab can turn it around really quickly,” she said.

However, the new test kits are still going through quality assurance, and Tam didn’t give a firm timeline for when they may be rolled out widely.

“We’re absolutely actively pursuing those,” she said. “Our national microbiology lab has acquired some of these rapid test modalities right now and they are quality-assuring them to make sure that they can actually diagnose. And then that will be very soon that we will be able to — if they work — then roll it out.”

Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief health officer, said on the weekend that federal authorities are paying close attention to everything needed to improve Canada’s ability to test.

“I can just assure you we’re pulling out all the stops, looking at all the possible things that we could and should be doing to ensure Canadians have access to testing,” he said. “We recognize that’s the most important thing we need to do in terms of public health action.”