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Provinces won’t be receiving any more COVID-19 rapid antigen tests from the Canadian government.
The feds stopped shipping the tests to the provinces at the end of January, as millions of tests in the federal inventory are set to expire within the year.
According to The Canadian Press, Health Canada has said it has 90 million rapid tests stored up – and more than 6.5 million of them will expire within the year. The rest will expire within two years.
Health Canada also has approved extensions to the expiration date for many brands of tests, ranging from six months to two years. The Saskatchewan Health Authority outlined the extensions on its website.
Health Canada told The Canadian Press the decision to end shipments was made in collaboration with the provinces and territories, who told the federal government they had enough supply.
University of Saskatchewan epidemiologist Nazeem Muhajarine told the wire service that for every five tests given out by provinces and territories during the pandemic, he estimates there are two sitting in a warehouse.
Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, added the tests may also become less able to detect infections as COVID-19 virus changes.
— With files from The Canadian Press
