COVID-19: Rapid Testing

PUBLISHED: 17/10/2020

The need for rapid Covid testing is crucial to flattening this curve. When will they be available?

Ottawa and Toronto are coping with more lockdowns, and several areas in Quebec are in the same situation. The federal government has announced the purchase of almost 8 million rapid tests. It was aiming to conduct 200 thousand a day across the country, but currently we’re seeing about 70 thousand completed. The question for many is ‘why is it taking so long?’ for Health Canada to give approval.

What exactly is available now? What’s coming down the pipe? Will Canada have the lab capacity to meet the demand?

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GUESTS:

Dr Steven Newmaster - Genomics Professor at University of Guelph - https://www.uoguelph.ca/ib/newmaster

David Juncker - Professor & Chair of the Biomedical Engineer/Genome Centre at McGill University -https://www.mcgill.ca/bbme/david-juncker

Christine Neilson - CEO at Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science -https://www.csmls.org/About-Us/About-CSMLS/Staff.aspx

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REFERENCES:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canada-approves-new-rapid-covid-19-test-for-use-in-coming-weeks-pm-1.5126678

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lockdown-rapid-testing-1.5758034

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/10/do-rapid-antigen-tests-have-accuracy-problem/616681/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-to-buy-nearly-eight-million-rapid-covid-19-tests-despite-lack/

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-test-and-testing-location-information?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8pD23cax7AIVEI_ICh3_ygd2EAMYASAAEgLh-PD_BwE

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lockdown-rapid-testing-1.5758034

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