Ontario likely won’t return to widespread COVID-19 PCR testing: health minister

Ontario’s health minister says the province likely won’t return to widespread PCR COVID-19 testing.

Christine Elliott made the remarks while speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park Thursday.

“Unless we have a rapid surge in cases, it’s not anticipated that we will return to widespread PCR testing because we do have the rapid tests so conveniently available now,” Elliott said.

But when there last was a rapid surge in cases at the beginning of the Omicron wave, that’s when PCR testing was restricted to higher-risk settings as the system came under immense strain.

PCR tests are considered to be more reliable and accurate when compared with rapid tests.

Eligibility has expanded slightly since then, but it remains restricted to certain individuals. (A list of who is eligible can be found on the provincial government website.)

Elliott was then asked if that meant the province will never know the true number of COVID-19 cases, as positive rapid tests are recorded in the province’s system.

“Well, we will know because of the PCR tests that are being done but we also know from other things,” she said.

“We can take a look at hospital capacity, we can take a look at the number of people that are being admitted to hospital, people that are being admitted to intensive care. We also have the wastewater surveillance system as well that is giving us good indicators.”

Last week, Ontario’s chief medical officer said that the true number of daily COVID-19 cases can be estimated by multiplying the reported number by 10.

With that, Ontario reported 2,125 confirmed cases Thursday, so the actual number could be somewhere around 21,250.

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