Ontario Premier Doug Ford blasted the “unacceptable” number of daily COVID-19 tests being done in the province, as the province confirmed 550 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Premier Doug Ford blasted the “unacceptable” number of daily COVID-19 tests being done in Ontario as the province confirmed 550 new cases of the virus and the number of dead surpassing 200.
“What’s unacceptable is the number of tests we are doing,” Ford said at a news conference Wednesday. “My patience is running thin.”
Minister of Health Christine Elliott said Tuesday Ontario currently has the capacity to run as many as 13,000 tests daily, but the province’s 100 dedicated testing centres have not been submitting that many swabs each day.
At first there weren’t enough assessment centres, then there was not enough lab capacity, then the supplies of reagent — key for testing — were low, but those issues have been dealt with, Ford said.
Now, he says, the province needs to “get a move on it.”
‘No more excuses’
“We need to start testing everybody possible,” Ford said, especially front-line health workers including those working in hospitals and long-term care homes, as well as first responders, police and paramedics.
Ford also said all seniors at long-term care homes should be tested, as well as all vulnerable people across the province.
Doug Ford says his patience has ‘run thin’ over the unacceptably low number of tests being done in Ontario. 1:44
“We have to keep testing the public too, it’s all hands on deck now,” Ford added. “There’s no more excuses, we need to get it done, bottom line.”
The premier added that he will be following up with his team later today to make sure there’s a clear plan in place to boost the daily tests to 13,000, but did not say if any accountability measures might be in place if the testing does fall short.
Total of deaths in Ontario tops 200
The number of confirmed cases of the virus jumped by 11.6 per cent on Wednesday, bringing the provincial total to 5,276.
It is the largest single-day increase in cases since the outbreak began.
The official tally includes 174 deaths, though CBC News has compiled data from regional public health units across the province and counted at least 202 COVID-19-linked deaths.
Some 1,102 people are awaiting test results.
Data from the Ministry of Health shows there were just 2,568 new test results provided on Tuesday. That’s roughly half the daily target of 5,000 that the government promised to achieve in late March, and far short of the 19,000 tests per day promised for the third week of April.
The slower-than-promised pace continued Wednesday, with Ontario announcing 3,237 new test results.
Testing capacity has grown significantly, health officials say
Public health officials acknowledged Wednesday that lab capacity has grown significantly and that the push is now on to get more people to take the test at community assessment centres.
“The bottom line is we want to do more testing, we’re working