Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to do more to help provinces respond to soaring demands for COVID-19 testing.
There is still no indication of when the government will approve the tests that can deliver results in mere minutes.
The promise of aid for testing comes in the speech from the throne read in Ottawa on Sept. 23.
Canadians across the country are finding it harder to get tested for COVID-19, as demand soars and the capacity to swab people and test those swabs in labs is maxed out.
A Health Canada spokesman said the department is making it a priority to review six proposals for rapid-testing systems but that none has yet been approved.
The government said in the throne speech that as soon as the tests are approved it will do everything it can to deploy them quickly.
Two Ottawa public health experts say the rapid tests can help reduce the burden on the system even if they aren’t as accurate as the government would normally like.
COVID-19 response
In the last 24 hours, Alberta reported nine new cases and seven recoveries of COVID-19 in Wood Buffalo.
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Inside the urban service area, there are 45 active cases, one death, and 188 resolved cases of the illness.
Outside the urban service area, there are still four active cases and 61 recoveries of COVID-19
Across the province, there are 143 new cases and two additional deaths linked to COVID-19.
Just over one per cent of the 12,317 tests health officials completed in that timespan was positive.
To date, officials completed 1,242,263 tests since the start of the pandemic.
59 Albertans are in hospital with 13 in intensive care.
NEW:
– 143 new COVID cases in AB on 12,317 tests (1.16% +)
– 59 in hospital (+8)- 13 in ICU (+4)
– 2 new deaths, 260 overall
– 1520 active cases ( -45)#yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/co2PNNXXWn— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) September 23, 2020
Alberta has 1520 active cases, 260 deaths, and 15,252 recoveries from the illness
Expect a live update from Dr Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, on Sept. 24, 2020.
This article includes excerpts from Mia Rabson of The Canadian Press.
