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 June 8, 2022
- distributed by provincial and territorial governments as of May 27, 2022
- distributed by the federal government to workplaces, community groups and non-profit organizations as of May 31, 2022
These numbers are updated regularly.
Shipment and distribution of COVID-19 rapid tests in Canada:
Shipments in Canada by company/product
| CompanyFootnote * name | Product name | Tests received from suppliers | Tests shipped to provinces/territories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbott Rapid Diagnostics ULC | Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test | 6,651,144 | 5,724,824 |
| Abbott Rapid Diagnostics ULC | ID Now Covid-19 | 132,572,900 | 113,089,776 |
| Artron Laboratories Inc | ARTRON COVID-19 ANTIGEN TEST | 27,702,801 | 27,702,426 |
| Becton Dickinson Canada Inc. | BD Veritor™ System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 | 12,208,770 | 10,742,910 |
| Btnx Inc | Rapid Response COVID-19 Antigen Rapid test Device | 316,370,600 | 296,174,590 |
| CanAm Scientific Inc. | SARS-COV-2 Rapid Antigen Nasal SD Biosensor | 2,419,110 | 414,000 |
| Lucira Health Inc. | Lucira CHECK✓IT COVID-19 Test Kit | 218,050 | 70,096 |
| Precision Biomonitoring Inc. (Canada) | Triplelock SARS-CoV-2 Tests | 3,506,000 | 0 |
| Quidel Canada ULC | Sofia SARS Antigen FIA | 850,000 | 73,200 |
| Quidel Canada ULC | QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID Test | 16,905,775 | 6,219,825 |
| Roche Diagnostics | SD Biosensor SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Self Test NASAL | 11,229,350 | 8,124,350 |
| Switch Health Holdings Inc. | SD Biosensor, Inc Standard Q Covid 19 AG Nasal Test | 73,165,475 | 28,809,175 |
| Trimedic Therapeutics | COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test / Assuretech | 7,857,080 | 7,857,080 |
| Total | 611,657,055 | 505,002,252 | |
Footnotes
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Shipments to and distribution by provinces and territories
| Province/territory | Tests shipped to province/territory | Tests distributed by province/territory |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 65,652,759 | 36,218,060 |
| British Columbia | 59,798,281 | 26,473,515 |
| Manitoba | 22,414,454 | 13,471,037 |
| New Brunswick | 15,698,910 | 13,411,388 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,922,207 | 4,403,512 |
| Nova Scotia | 19,610,587 | 12,222,538 |
| Northwest Territories | 739,036 | 311,044 |
| Nunavut | 620,934 | 214,702 |
| Ontario | 177,389,325 | 152,181,315 |
| Prince Edward Island | 2,944,236 | 1,910,336 |
| Quebec | 103,777,182 | 80,631,173 |
| Saskatchewan | 27,707,745 | 22,000,355 |
| Yukon | 726,596 | 616,112 |
| Total | 505,002,252 | 364,065,087 |
Federal allocation
| Recipient | Tests shipped |
|---|---|
| Private-sector workplacesFootnote * | 12,929,650 |
| Federal departments/ agencies, RCMP, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), workplaces | 6,033,191 |
| Community groups and non-profit organizationsFootnote ** | 6,822,179 |
| Total | 25,785,020 |
Footnotes
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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
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