Provinces clamour for rapid COVID tests as feds scramble to deliver millions promised

Many provinces have decided to restrict molecular PCR testing to individuals who are at a higher risk of being hospitalized from COVID-19.

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada is in crisis when it comes to COVID-19 PCR testing capacity, even as Ottawa struggles to make good on its promise to deliver 140 million rapid tests to provinces by the end of the month.

Access to PCR molecular testing, which is considered the gold standard when it comes to confirming a COVID-19 diagnosis, is in a crisis across the country, Duclos said Wednesday.

Many provinces have decided to restrict molecular PCR testing to individuals who are at a higher risk of being hospitalized from COVID-19 or are in settings where the virus could spread more quickly.

Duclos said that is why at-home rapid antigen tests have become a crucial tool in this fifth wave of the pandemic, which has been driven by the more transmissible Omicron variant.

It has caused provincial case counts to soar, overwhelmed testing sites and has prompted doctors to warn that hospitals are being pushed to the brink.

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the Liberal government would send provinces 140 million rapid tests. That would be four times the number of rapid tests the federal government provided in December, and they are to be distributed on a per capita basis.

But some provinces have flagged that shipments have been slow to arrive.

In Ontario, fewer than 0.3 per cent of the rapid tests committed to the province in January have been delivered so far. There is no delivery scheduled for about 80 per cent of the promised tests.