Saskatchewan has tested over 1100 people for the coronavirus so far. Results indicate there are two confirmed, six presumptive and 46 cases pending.
But, concern is being raised as to whether the province is preforming adequate testing or has enough supplies.
“Contrary to what we heard, there are indeed fewer nasopharyngeal swabs, reagents, and capacity for testing than Saskatchewan needs in order to be able to do the ideal testing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We need to be able to detect community spread, identify and isolate clusters, and respond immediately with the quickest possible interventions,” NDP Leader Ryan Meili said.
Testing centers opened in Regina and Saskatoon last Friday, while a facility in Prince Albert opened Monday.
Yet, residents are being assured that testing will ramp up and that there will be enough supplies to meet the demand.
“With respect to the supplies, in particular the testing supplies, there’s been no shortage of testing supplies thus far. As we move ahead, we’re expecting the number of tests in this province to greatly increase. We are, and we’re preparing for that as we have additional supplies on hand as we continue to receive supplies and order supplies in the days and weeks ahead, as we are anticipating there’s going to be additional testing. And the rate of increase of the testing that we are doing in this province is going to increase,” Premier Scott Moe said.
The Saskatchewan Government website has information regarding testing, symptoms and a self-assessment tool to determine whether you need test.