Feds invest $4.28B to expand testing and contact tracing

THUNDER BAY, Ont. — On July 27, the federal government announced that it will provide $4.28 billion to expand testing and contact tracing capacity, and the associated data management and information sharing systems.

“As we see an increase in cases in several parts of the country, our work continues with all levels of government to protect Canadians,” said Patty Hajdu, minister of health, in a prepared statement. “These investments will help contain outbreaks of the virus by making more resources available for testing, public health data sharing and contact tracing.”

This funding will help to conduct 200,000 tests per day to help manage COVID-19 outbreaks over the coming year. The feds will also provide $7.5 billion towards personal protective equipment (PPE), according to the announcement.

Part of this funding will be used to ensure availability of testing components like reagents, swabs, point-of-care kits, and promote innovation in developing new testing components and equipment.

It will also help support contact tracing, including by making federal human resources available to provinces and territories, and help modernize data management and infrastructure to accelerate reporting on cases and access to these data by public health officials.