To stop the spread of COVID-19, the Ontario government will be significantly expanding and enhancing testing, especially for priority groups, doubling the number of tests processed daily.
Premier Doug Ford, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott, and Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Wiliams made the announcement on Friday (April 10).
“We’re laser-focused on ramping up our testing capacity so we can protect the most vulnerable in our communities and those who protect them, like our frontline health care workers and first responders,” Ford said. “By expanding our testing capacity, we will be able to find cases faster, intervene earlier, reduce the spread, and save lives.”
VIDEO: Ontario Premier Doug Ford on expanded COVID-19 testing – April 10, 2020
In addition to the ongoing testing of the general public at any of the 100 COVID-19 assessment centres across Ontario, Ontario will be proactively testing:
- hospital inpatients
- residents of long-term care and retirement homes
- healthcare workers, caregivers, care providers, paramedics, and first responders, including police and firefighters
- remote, isolated, rural and Indigenous communities
- other congregate living centres, including homeless shelters, prisons, and group homes
- specific vulnerable populations, including patients undergoing chemotherapy or hemodialysis and requiring transplants, as well as pregnant persons, newborns and cross-border workers
- other essential workers, as defined by provincial orders.
The government has already provided testing guidelines to public health units, assessment centres, primary care settings, and long-term care homes, and will be providing guidelines for specific vulnerable populations and essential workers. The province will also provide guidelines to begin targeted surveillance by sampling populations within northern towns.
Through the expanded testing, Ontario expects to double the number of tests processed each day to 8,000 by April 15th and to 14,000 by April 29th, at which point overall lab capacity will have been further expanded.
“By significantly increasing the number of tests each day, we will identify cases early, contain them and prevent putting more people at risk,” Elliot said.
“Doing so is especially important for priority groups like hospital inpatients, long-term care home residents and our brave front-line healthcare workers and first responders, all of whom are more vulnerable to being exposed to this virus. Nothing is more important than protecting their health and well-being.”
Ontario has also updated the list of symptoms related to COVID-19. The existing symptoms are difficulty breathing, fever, cough, muscle aches, fatigue, headache, sore throat, and runny nose.
VIDEO: Minister of Health on expanding the list of COVID-19 symptoms – April 10, 2020
The new symptoms include:
- a hoarse voice
- difficulty swallowing
- loss of sense of smell or taste
- diarrhea
- nausea/vomiting.
For seniors, there are additional symptoms including:
- chills
- delirium with no other obvious reason
- falls
- acute functional decline
- increased heart rate
- decreased blood pressure.
The new symptoms expand the number of people who may qualify for COVID-19 testing. The COVID-19 self-assessment tool at covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/ has been updated to include the new symptoms.
