THUNDER BAY - After lagging behind other provinces in COVID-19 tests, Ontario is now leading the nation with the number of per capita tests per day.
On Monday, the provincial government announced it had achieved its goal of testing 17,000 people per day in Ontario for COVID-19.
“On April 10, I promised you we were going to ramp up testing,” said Premier Doug Ford during his daily media briefing. “We set a target of 16,000 tests per day by May 6. Thanks to your incredible team and health care professionals we beat that target. On May 1, we hit 17,000 tests a day. We are leading the country both in total tests and per capita.”
The province was criticized in early April for only conducting between 2,000 and 3,000 tests per day. At the time, Ford said the province had the capacity to conduct more tests and that there were no excuses for why that number couldn’t be higher.
More than 342,000 tests have been conducted across the province to date and in some instances results are returned within 24 to 48 hours.
Emphasis on testing is still being given to long-term care homes, group homes, emergency shelters, childcare centres, and other congregate settings.
There are more than 20 agencies that are part of a province-wide testing network to increase testing and contract tracing, including local health units, Public Health Ontario, hospitals, and community laboratories.
“Expanding testing is critical to containing and limiting the spread of this virus, both in communities and long-term care homes,” said Minister of Health Christine Elliott. “We are now the leader in Canada in per capita testing. We continue to invest in further expanding our COVID-19 testing.”
Despite increases in testing and contact tracing, as well as an announcement from the provincial government last week to allow certain seasonal businesses to reopen in a limited capacity, the people of Ontario are being reminded that the fight against COVID-19 is far from over.
“It tells us that we can’t stop now,” Ford said. “We need to continue looking out for each other. We need to continue taking the health advice seriously. We need to stay vigilant. If we stay the course, we can defeat this virus.”
