Parts of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area will be placed under the red zone in the province’s tiered framework for COVID-19 restrictions as of Tuesday, allowing a wide swath of businesses to reopen.
The federal government has approved an Ottawa company s made-in-Canada rapid COVID-19 test, Health Canada confirmed Saturday as the nation s top doctor warned the virus s impact on the health-care system showed no signs of abating.
The test developed by Spartan Bioscience is performed by a health-care professional and provides on-site results within an hour, a spokeswoman for the federal agency said.
Spartan bills the test as the first truly mobile, rapid PCR test for COVID-19 for the Canadian market. The Spartan system will be able to provide quality results to remote communities, industries and settings with limited lab access, helping relieve the burden on overwhelmed healthcare facilities, the company said in a news release Saturday.