The day after the Trudeau government announced it had a deal to buy nearly 8-million rapid tests from Abbott Laboratories, Health Canada says it’s approved the Abbott Diagnostics ID Now test.
It’s been in use south of the border for months already.
Abbott says on its website that the test can produce results in less than 13 minutes.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu says the tests will likely not be widely available at first but sent to specific locations.
”They may be useful for example in long-term care settings where there has to be deeper screening,” adds Hajdu.
”They (the test kits) may be used in rural and remote communities.”
Opposition parities had complained that other countries have adequate rapid tests and called on the federal government to speed up the approval process.