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TORONTO – Steven Del Duca, Ontario Liberal Party Leader, made the following statement:
Yesterday, Premier Doug Ford spoke about ramping up Ontario’s testing capacity to 13,000 tests per day. As he said these words the Premier knew, or should have known, that a shortage of swabs in Ontario meant this would be impossible.
The CBC is reporting that patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms are being turned away from testing centres. Dr. Williams agrees that these patients, no matter how mild the symptoms, should be tested. The issue is the lack of swabs.
We’ve known since January that we would need swabs, reagent and testing facilities. Three months later, Ontario is struggling with an unacceptable swab shortage.
Premier Doug Ford owes it to Ontarians to table an action plan for closing the swab shortage gap immediately.
Ontarians deserve no less.