Canadians will have to wait until 2021 before millions of the Abbott rapid COVID-19 test are available for use, says Health Canada’s chief medical adviser.
In an interview with Global News Thursday, Dr. Supriya Sharma said while details are still being confirmed, the first Abbott ID NOW tests should arrive in Canada in the next “two to three weeks.”
But they will only number in the hundreds of thousands, with up to 2.5 million arriving “into the early part of 2021,” said Sharma. “It usually happens in waves,” she said, cautioning that much hinges on the company’s ability to manufacture the device and its testing supplies.
On Tuesday, the government announced it had purchased up to 7.9 million of the rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, and the next day Health Canada announced its approval.
The test works by detecting the novel coronavirus’s DNA and promises to return results in 13 minutes or less.
In terms of who will get those tests when they arrive, Sharma said Health Canada is still in discussions with the provinces and territories and hasn’t yet received their specific requests. The allocation decisions are based on a number of factors.
“We work with them and we look at their per capita numbers. We look at the epidemiology of the outbreak in each of the provinces and territories [and] we look at the urban and rural sort of split.”
1:10 Coronavirus: Ontario officials say COVID-19 testing demand remains high, reminds province to only get tested ‘if you need one’
Coronavirus: Ontario officials say COVID-19 testing demand remains high, reminds province to only get tested ‘if you need one’
University of Manitoba virologist Jason Kindrachuk is not surprised by that rollout plan, saying something is better than nothing in dealing with the country’s backlog of cases.
“You have to, first of all, manufacture all of these, and work on the availability of the companies. You can’t force that if it’s not there,” he said.
Story continues below advertisement
“So getting those implemented and then knowing that as we move through the fall that we will have additional supplies coming in, I think is very important for us since we don’t really know what we’re going to face yet … on into 2021.”
0:46 Nova Scotia testing gargle test for COVID-19
Nova Scotia testing gargle test for COVID-19
But as Canadians wait for the Abbott test, there are questions about whether it’s the right test to purchase.
In May of this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration flagged concerns about the accuracy of the Abbott ID NOW test, suggesting that it returned an unacceptably high number of false-negative results.
That warning came just days after a study critical of the Abbott ID NOW test was published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
The Trump administration purchased and this week announced it’s ready to deploy a different test manufactured by Abbott: the BinaxNOW. It’s also a rapid test, but it’s an antigen test, which detects the virus’s surface protein rather than its DNA.
Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters the antigen test is the one he wants to see Ottawa approve.
“I really do have confidence that they’re going to get this out. And I really look forward to it because it’s a game-changer,” Ford said.
Brookings Institution Fellow Dr. Kavita Patel says south of the border, everyone is talking about the antigen tests rather than the PCR.
1:05 Coronavirus: Trudeau says Health Canada approved Abbott rapid test amid criticism on delays from opposition
Coronavirus: Trudeau says Health Canada approved Abbott rapid test amid criticism on delays from opposition
While she stresses PCR tests are considered the gold standard, some of the high false-negative rates have proved to be “not acceptable.”
Story continues below advertisement
“So as a result, United States policy has shifted towards having wide-scale, low-cost rapid antigen testing,” Patel told Global News from Washington, D.C.
Dr. Sharma said she’s aware of issues with “previous versions” of the Abbott PCR test, but she cannot speak to the American data. She’s confident in Health Canada’s approval based on the device and evidence Health Canada received.
Sharma said the data showed the test’s sensitivity, or ability to detect COVID-19, with a regular nasal swab was 93 per cent, and even higher using the deeper nasal pharyngeal swab.
“The data that we’ve seen really supports that level of sensitivity and specificity with the devices and that’s why they were authorized.”
That American study released back in May found the Abbott test showed “low sensitivity with high false-negative results” when compared to another rapid test, the Cepheid GeneXpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2.
Health Canada has also approved the Cepheid test, but only purchased about one million tests. Some are already in use, including in northern Manitoba.
Global News asked both Health Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada why they purchased so many fewer tests compared to the Abbott.
Story continues below advertisement
“As with virtually all contracts for PPE and other medical supplies, including test kits, the quantities negotiated are based on Canada’s needs as well as what the supplier is able to guarantee delivery of. Given the high demand for tests globally, that’s precisely why we’ve pursued multiple agreements with different suppliers for tests,” said a spokesperson for Procurement Minister Anita Anand.
Dr. Sharma also pointed to manufacturing capacity as an issue.
“The landscape around these medical devices and these tests are very complicated. It’s very complex,” said Sharma, stressing Canadians can have confidence in Health Canada’s approvals process.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
