Canada-made COVID-19 tests' unreliability led Health Canada to bar their public use

Ottawa, May 3 (Canadian-Media): Unreliability of made-in-Canada, rapid COVID-19 test created by Spartan Bioscience led Health Canada to bar their use by public, media reports said.

Image: Spartan. Image credit: twitter handle

​After Health Canada learnt about the problems being faced by National Microbiology Lab tests being unreliable, it restricted its use for research purposes only until adequate evidence of clinical performance is provided.

A rapid-testing device for COVID-19 created by an Ottawa company is now for research purposes only, says Health Canada. https://t.co/hcortkywCP

— CBC News (@CBCNews) May 3, 2020

Although these tests could deliver on-location results in under 60 minutes, and by further upgrade to 30 minutes, Health Canada was mainly concerned about the efficacy of the swabs the testing unit uses and not with the machine itself.

Last month the federal government had ordered 40,000 tests a month from Spartan, said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer.

Health Canada, which has already shipped out 5,500 tests nationally for validation of provincial and federal governments, is voluntarily recalling the product to perform more clinical tests.