More Rapid Antigen Tests for COVID-19 Coming to Canada

Government of Canada signs another agreement for COVID-19 antigen rapid tests 

From: Public Services and Procurement Canada

News release

November 10, 2020  – Gatineau, Quebec – Public Services and Procurement Canada

The Government of Canada is protecting the health and safety of all Canadians, while moving toward a safe and sustainable economic recovery. This includes taking steps so Canadians can quickly and easily access COVID-19 testing.

The Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, and the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, today announced that the Government of Canada has signed an agreement with BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) to purchase7.6 million rapid, point-of-care, SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests for use on the BD Veritor™ Plus System and up to 2,172 analyzers.

The Public Health Agency of Canada will deploy these tests to provinces and territories to support them in ramping up COVID-19 testing.

COVID-19 testing technologies are advancing as the pandemic continues. On behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada continues to pursue additional agreements to secure access to the most promising rapid tests. 

Quotes

“The Government of Canada continues to work diligently to provide Canadians with access to effective and efficient COVD-19 testing solutions. This new agreement with BD is critical to assisting the provinces and territories in their respective efforts to reduce the spread of the virus. We will continue to support Canadians through the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Honourable Anita Anand
Minister of Public Services and Procurement 

“With the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, testing continues to be an important public health measure to help us flatten the curve and reduce the spread of the virus. These additional test kits and analyzers will help increase our testing and screening capacity across the country, including in rural and remote communities”

The Honourable Patty Hajdu
Minister of Health

Quick facts

  • Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada are working together to purchase and deploy COVID-19 rapid tests. 
  • The BD Veritor™ System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 is the second antigen rapid test purchased by the Government of Canada, following the Abbott Panbio COVID-19 Antigen.  
  • Antigen testing is one of several emerging technologies that can be used to determine if a person is infected with the COVID-19 virus. The test works by detecting specific proteins associated with the virus. 
  • To date, the Government of Canada has signed agreements with the following companies for COVID-19 rapid tests:
    • BD will supply 7.6 million BD Veritor™ System for Rapid Detection SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests.
    • Abbott Rapid Diagnostics ULC will supply up to 7.9 million ID NOW rapid tests and up to 20.5 million Panbio COVID-19 Antigen rapid tests.
    • Biomérieux Canada will supply up to 699,750 RP2.1 Diagnostic test kits.
    • Inter Medico will supply up to 1.2 million GeneXpert rapid tests.  

Associated links

Massive Loss of Tourist Jobs Will be Lost in the USA (E-Hotelier report)

A staggering 9.2 million jobs could be lost in the U.S. Travel & Tourism sector in 2020 if barriers to global travel remain in place, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) revealed.

US unemployment 2020

The new figure comes from WTTC’s latest economic modelling, which looks at the punishing impact of COVID-19 and travel restrictions on the Travel & Tourism sector.

According to the latest data, 7.2 million jobs in the U.S. have been impacted. If there is no immediate alleviation of restrictions on international travel, as many as 9.2 million jobs – more than half of all jobs supported by the sector in the U.S. in 2019 – would be lost.

WTTC has identified the four top priorities which should be addressed, including the adoption of a comprehensive and cost-effective testing regime at departure to avoid transmission, the re-opening of key ‘air corridors’ such as between New York and London, and international coordination.

The challenge of restoring safe travels in the new normal is one of the biggest issues facing the U.S. as it grapples with a depressed economy devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit the Travel & Tourism sector particularly hard.

The WTTC Economic Impact Report for 2019 revealed that Travel & Tourism contributed $1.84 trillion to the U.S. economy and was responsible for more than one in 10 (10.7%) American jobs.

Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and we wish them every success in these challenging times. The U.S. government has a real opportunity to lead the international coordination and save millions of jobs globally and across the U.S.

“In 2019, Travel & Tourism was responsible for almost 17 million jobs, which is more than one in every 10 jobs across the U.S., so it’s vital we recover as many as possible to power the economic recovery of the country.

“Globally, eight out of 10 businesses within Travel & Tourism are SME’s, employing millions of people around the world, and all of which rely on a thriving Travel & Tourism sector. It is also one of the most diverse sectors, employing people from all socio-economic backgrounds regardless of age, gender or ethnicity, with almost 50% of whom are women and up to 30% youths.

“WTTC, has been at the forefront in leading the private sector in the efforts to restore international travel and rebuild global consumer confidence with several major initiatives. We launched our ‘Safe Travels’ stamp, to enable travellers to recognise destinations around the world which have adopted health and hygiene global standardised protocols.

“We offer to work closely with the U.S. government to recover international travel whilst avoiding transmission, through a four-point list of top priorities.

“We need to learn to co-exist with this virus and measures should be in place to reactivate both inbound and outbound travel responsibly and avoid further economic and social hardship.”

Across North America, WTTC research shows that between 10.8 million and 13.8 million jobs within Travel & Tourism are at serious risk.

Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO, said: “The numbers show that restarting global travel is an absolute must from an economic and jobs standpoint, and it can be done safely by embracing health and safety guidance and technologies, which have been widely deployed across the travel industry.

“Moving away from quarantines and implementing the practices that we know will work—chief among them rapid, reliable and efficient testing, the universal wearing of masks in public, and the use of contactless technologies—will help restore confidence and growth.”

The resumption of international travel will act as a catalyst to re-energise the global economic recovery. According to WTTC, the four main priorities for the new U.S. administration should be:

  • The re-opening of ‘air corridors’ on vital routes, especially those across the Atlantic to re-establish crucial business travel between major economic hubs
  • The introduction of a testing regime at airports, with globally recognised standards to avoid exporting and importing the virus
  • A commitment to ensure safe and seamless travel, with enhanced health and hygiene measures as well as contactless touchpoints
  • Ensure international coordination to adopt standards that will allow international travel to restart and rebuild consumer confidence.

During 2019, the report detailed how Travel & Tourism was responsible for one in 10 jobs (330 million in total), making a 10.3% contribution to global GDP and generating one in four of all new jobs.

European Tourism Suffers The Second COVID Wave (E-Hotelier Report)

A new surge in Covid-19 cases and the reintroduction of travel restrictions have halted European tourism recovery with international tourist arrivals to Europe down 68% halfway through the year relative to 2019.

European tourism recovery

That is according to the European Travel Commission’s (ETC) latest quarterly report “European Tourism: Trends & Prospects” for Q3 2020 which has been closely monitoring the evolution of the pandemic throughout the year and analysing its impact on travel and tourism.

The easing of pandemic restrictions across Europe led to a slight pick-up in July and August 2020 compared to earlier months, signalling people’s enthusiasm and desire to travel again. However, the recent re-imposition of lockdowns and travel restrictions has quickly halted any chance of an early recovery. Looking at the months ahead, heightened uncertainty and downside risks continue to dampen the outlook with European arrivals set to decline 61% in 2020.

Speaking following the publication of the report, ETC Executive Director Eduardo Santander said: “As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic grips Europe and in advance of the winter season, it is now more important than ever that European nations join forces to agree on common solutions, not only to curb the spread of the virus but also to support tourism’s sustainable recovery, restore travellers’ confidence, and most importantly protect the millions of businesses, jobs, and enterprises that are at risk, so they can survive the economic fallout. The direction of the economic recovery across Europe will depend significantly on the recovery of the tourism sector, a sector which generates close to 10% of the EU’s GDP and accounts for over 22 million jobs.”

Southern European destinations & islands among the most affected

Digging deeper into the above numbers, Mediterranean destinations Cyprus and Montenegro saw the steepest falls in arrivals at a distressing 85% and 84% respectively, attributable to a higher dependency on foreign travellers. Among the other countries most impacted are Romania where arrivals plunged 80%; Turkey (-77%); Portugal and Serbia (both -74%). Island destinations, Iceland and Malta (both -71%) also performed poorly, challenged by their geographical location and strict border restrictions.

On the contrary, Austria appears to have benefitted from pre-Covid-19 winter travel at the start of the year, resulting in a decline of just 44% for the year to September. A greater reliance on short-haul trips also placed Austria in a strong position to attain a less volatile recovery as restrictions in the country have eased much quicker than other countries.

This further highlights the need for member state cooperation across Europe as the disparity of approaches regarding travel restrictions has depressed travel demand and consumer confidence. A recent survey by IATA suggests that travel restrictions are as much a travel deterrent as the perceived risk of catching the virus itself. Harmonised solutions towards testing and tracing, along with quarantine measures will be crucial to mitigating the downside risks across Europe.

Future outlook & shift in traveller preferences

The importance of domestic and intra-European travel cannot be understated in terms of the role it will play in the recovery of the tourism sector over the coming months. In a welcome update, the latest forecasts predict a quicker rebound for domestic travel in Europe, surpassing 2019 levels by 2022. European short-haul arrivals are also projected to bounce back faster by 2023, being helped by a swifter easing of travel restrictions and a lesser perceived risk compared to long-haul trips. Overall travel volumes are now projected to return to pre-pandemic levels only by 2024.

The Covid-19 pandemic is also impacting destination choices within particular European countries. The summer season has shown a significant increase in those seeking to travel to rural and coastal locations, clearly as a result of concerns regarding visits to highly-populated urban locations, where it is more difficult to practice social distancing.

This change in travel preferences may ultimately mitigate the issue of over-tourism and allow destinations to boost sustainable tourism demand. Increased travel interest for secondary destinations will relieve some popular tourist hotspots that previously struggled to cope with excessive travel demand and will help spread the economic benefits of tourism more evenly within countries.

The full report and the infographic can be downloaded from ETC’s corporate website under the following link: https://etc-corporate.org/reports/european-tourism-2020-trends-prospects-q3-2020/

Uncorked: The Liquor Control Board of Ontario Vintages $14.95 and Under Corner: And The Winners

Here is a red wine called Hécula from the Yecla appellation in Spain.

Black cherry in colour. Aroma of black cherry, blackberry, lavender and ripe strawberries. On the palate fairly solid tannins that leave a nice fruity ring encapsulated around the tannins. No doubt about it. This is a full-bodied wine but being a big boy wine means you have some responsibilities and that is delivering some flavour! In this case there is flavour and it is tight and there is no jamminess nor flippancy. It is tightly held old big and fat strawberries with black cherry nectar clinging on for dear life. I would say this wine will sail nicely on for the next 5 years and improve. Nice long finish. If General Franco and his big ego were still alive today this might be a wine he would relish as it is big and strong like the Spain he always wanted.

I would think these needs something meaty on the grill or something with a very rich tomatoe and wine sauce like osso Bucco.

(Hécula, Monastrell 2017 DO Yecla, Bodegas Castaño,Yecla, Spain, $14.75, LCBO # 718999, 750 mL, 14%,Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me Blog Rating 92/100).

The further you go in France well the cheaper the wine gets. At one-point southern France supplied the working class of Paris with their cheap and not so tasty wines but they were cheap and my goodness sometimes blended with Algerian wine. Well they have cleaned up their act but it make take a few more years to get the glowing reputation they deserve.

In this case we have a white. It has a golden colour. Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair! On the palate it tries to convince you it is an off dry wine with a very quick vaccination like prick of sweetness but it finishes mostly dry with a bit of sweetness left in the after palate. In fact it is a full bodied white with class! On the nose some apricot, peach and honey which if it wasn’t for its initial jab of sweetness just might make you think you were trying a Viognier. A blend of gros manseng, petit corbu and arrufiac. Now how is that for local! The label state this wine is good with seafood, fish and salads a well as cheese. Now that makes sense but I think you would have to be in Southwest France where this wine originated from to make the perfect choice. As for us Canucks this would go well with poultry and I include turkey for that lonely COVID-19 inspired Christmas party you are going to have!

(Plaimont Témoignage Saint Mont 2017, AOC Saint-Mont, Plaimont,Saint Mont, France, $14.95, LCBO # 16208,  Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me Blog Rating 92/100).

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