The first shipments of a made-in-Canada, rapid COVID-19 test will begin arriving at federal and provincial health agencies this week, following approval of the new technology by Health Canada over the Easter weekend. Health officials across Canada have been doing targeted — rather than widespread — testing for COVID-19 because of a general shortage of testing materials and people trained to do them. Based in Ottawa, Spartan Bioscience is working with the federal government to develop a rapid testing method for COVID-19. 1:03With assistance from federal funding announced last month, Spartan adapted its portable DNA test kits to a similar hand-held, cube-shaped device for COVID-19. Much of the production for the new Spartan tests is Canadian.

Source: CBC News April 13, 2020 13:40 UTC