Health Canada recently approved a test for COVID-19 that claims to deliver results in half an hour — much faster than most testing methods currently being used across Canada.
And having more, faster tests could make a big difference in how Canada fights the disease, experts say. Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, said he felt “joy and relief” at hearing that a faster test was available. “We need rapid testing if we’re going to return to a new normal.” The new test, made by Spartan Bioscience in Ottawa, is portable — about the size of a coffee cup.
The tester takes a throat swab from a patient, pops it into the small machine, and less than an hour later, it gives a result,