Testing for COVID-19: Increasing testing supply

On this page

• What Canada is doing
• Increasing testing options
• Securing and distributing rapid test
• Supporting testing capacity across Canada

What Canada is doing

Testing and screening, along with local public health measures and vaccination, are important tools to limit the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

Canada is:

• mobilizing industry and providing support for research, market approval, manufacturing and access to medical supplies
• working with companies that are developing new and innovative testing technologies
• engaging with international regulators to share knowledge about new developments related to testing

Increasing testing options

Health Canada reviews testing devices to assess safety, effectiveness and quality before authorizing for sale in Canada. For us to authorize a test, the manufacturer must submit an application for review.

Health Canada has authorized over 100 different COVID-19 tests. We also continue to fast-track the review of COVID-19 tests, including new testing options.

We are currently prioritizing the review of tests that are:

• self-testing kits
• point-of-care antigen or molecular tests that use nasal swabs or saliva
• testing devices that test for multiple respiratory viruses (also called multiplex)

Health Canada is also prioritizing the review of novel technology, such as breathalyzers, for use in Canada. We are working with manufacturers to ensure these novel technologies are safe and effective.

In all cases, manufacturers must prove that the test is safe and effective by the intended user before we will authorize it. For example, for self-testing kits, the manufacturer must prove that a person can use their test safely and effectively without being supervised by a health care professional.

Securing and distributing rapid tests

On behalf of the federal government, Public Services and Procurement Canada purchased hundreds of millions of COVID-19 rapid tests to distribute across the country. This purchase ensures that the Canada can increase testing capacity with authorized, proven and effective technologies. Find out about our rapid test agreements and the types of COVID-19 rapid tests purchased.

There is currently a delay in reporting the deployment of COVID-19 rapid tests due to the time it takes for tests to be:

• shipped and delivered to provinces and territories
• distributed throughout each jurisdiction

The tables on this page show the number of COVID-19 rapid tests that have been:

• received from suppliers and shipped to provinces and territories as of March 22, 2023
• distributed by provincial and territorial governments as of March 10, 2023
• distributed by the federal government to workplaces, community groups and non-profit organizations as of March 21, 2023

These numbers are updated regularly.

Shipment and distribution of COVID-19 rapid tests in Canada:

Shipments in Canada by company/product

Shipment of COVID-19 rapid tests in Canada

CompanyFootnote * name	Product name	Tests received from suppliers	Tests shipped to provinces/territories
Abbott Rapid Diagnostics ULC	Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test	152,036,460	125,802,284
Abbott Rapid Diagnostics ULC	ID Now Covid-19	7,023,024	5,777,000
Artron Laboratories Inc	ARTRON COVID-19 ANTIGEN TEST	48,702,801	43,208,181
Becton Dickinson Canada Inc.	BD Veritor™ System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2	12,256,290	9,986,860
Btnx Inc	Rapid Response COVID-19 Antigen Rapid test Device	404,050,760	372,265,265
BioLytical	Istatis COVID-19 Antigen Home Test	5,000,015	4,999,800
CanAm Scientific Inc.	SARS-COV-2 Rapid Antigen Nasal SD Biosensor	1,663,700	438,120
Lucira Health Inc.	Lucira CHECK✓IT COVID-19 Test Kit	689,268	397,808
Maverin Inc.	ACON Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test	41,000,000	32,985,300
MSS	Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid	5,000,000	0
Precision Biomonitoring Inc. (Canada)	Triplelock SARS-CoV-2 Tests	3,506,000	3,506,000
Quidel Canada ULC	Sofia SARS Antigen FIA	850,000	73,200
Quidel Canada ULC	QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID Test	16,500,000	6,242,150
Roche Diagnostics	SD Biosensor SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Self Test NASAL	38,642,297	12,926,597
Switch Health Holdings Inc.	SD Biosensor, Inc Standard Q Covid 19 AG Nasal Test	60,350,000	55,991,325
Trimedic Therapeutics	COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test / Assuretech	7,857,080	7,857,080
2San Healthcare Group Inc.	PCL Self-Test Covid-19 Ag	250,000	240,750
Total		805,377,695	682,697,720
Footnotes Footnote * "Company" may refer to the manufacturer of the device or a third-party supplier. Return to footnote * referrer

Shipments to, distribution and inventory by provinces and territories

Shipment of COVID-19 rapid tests to and distribution by provinces/territories

Province/territory	Tests shipped to province/territory	Tests distributed by province/territory	Estimated inventory by province/territory
Alberta	77,604,516	44,242,464	33,362,052
British Columbia	84,086,686	54,850,593	29,236,093
Manitoba	24,501,907	17,502,490	6,999,417
New Brunswick	18,521,234	18,184,152	337,082
Newfoundland and Labrador	9,557,845	4,970,465	4,587,380
Nova Scotia	24,270,478	15,119,462	9,151,016
Northwest Territories	774,986	405,405	369,581
Nunavut	762,704	253,128	509,576
Ontario	264,024,287	206,743,710	57,280,577
Prince Edward Island	3,819,978	2,877,708	942,270
Quebec	142,278,152	101,514,185	40,763,967
Saskatchewan	31,760,783	26,442,173	5,318,610
Yukon	734,164	462,291	271,873
Total	682,697,720	493,568,226	189,129,494
Note: The difference between tests shipped to and deployed by provinces/territories may be an under- or over-estimate of actual inventories. This is because some provinces and territories may procure their own tests, and reporting on deployment varies.

Federal allocation

As of March 21, 2023

Federal distribution of COVID-19 rapid tests to workplaces, community groups and non-profit organizations

Recipient	Tests shipped
Private-sector workplacesFootnote *	13,875,510
Federal departments/ agencies, RCMP, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), workplaces	7,006,077
Community groups and non-profit organizationsFootnote **	8,692,096
Total	29,573,683
Footnotes Footnote * Includes tests shipped directly from Health Canada to medium-large organizations and to participating pharmacy distributors for re-distribution to Small-Medium Enterprises Return to footnote * referrer Footnote ** Includes tests shipped to Canadian Red Cross and northern grocers for re-distribution to registered charities or non-profit organizations (for workplaces or individual distribution), gateway airports, and Northern, Remote and Isolated Communities, etc. Return to footnote ** referrer

Supporting testing capacity across Canada

The federal government has provided $4.28 billion to the provinces and territories to help them:

• conduct testing (up to 200,000 tests per day across Canada)
• perform contact tracing
• share public health data to help fight the pandemic

Canada is also providing funding and support to improve and modernize data management. This will help all levels of government coordinate their efforts to contain the virus.

For more information, refer to:

• the Safe Restart Agreement, which includes the testing targets that have been agreed to
• the COVID-19 epidemiology update, for daily and weekly numbers of people tested

Related links

• Testing for COVID-19: When to get tested and testing results
• COVID-19: Prevention and risks
• List of authorized testing devices
• Measures to reduce COVID-19 in your community
• Collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory