Ontario to provide free rapid COVID-19 tests until June 2023
Ontario to provide free rapid COVID-19 tests until June 2023
Ontario will continue to provide free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests for another six months amid a “triple threat” of respiratory illnesses this winter.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones made the announcement on Thursday, flanked by Premier Doug Ford, while also discussing a provincial investment that will pay for nursing tuition.
“This year's triple threat of influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 has placed extra demands on the health-care system across the country,” Jones said. “We continue to encourage all Ontarians to stay up to date with their vaccines, including getting your available booster dose and your flu shot.”
“We are also extending the very successful free rapid antigen test program in grocery stores and pharmacies across the province until June 30, 2023.”
The Ontario government has been distributing free rapid antigen tests to more than 2,000 locations since February 2022. The program was previously extended and was set to end on Dec. 31.
When the program was first announced, the province said that about 5.5 million tests would be distributed each week.
CTV News Toronto has reached out to the Ministry of Health to determine if this is still the case.
The province also announced Thursday it will be providing the Michener Institute with over $4.6 million to “remove financial barriers for nurses wanting to upskill to work in critical care areas of hospitals.”
Today I joined @fordnation to announce $4.6M to remove financial barriers for nurses wanting to upskill to work in critical care areas in hospitals.
It's all hands on deck as we continue to invest in programs to recruit, retain and hire more health care workers in Ontario. pic.twitter.com/5ofxsbzBRB
The funding will be used to provide free tuition for students and to pay for college and hospital costs. The premier said they expect close to 600 nurses to have completed their upskilling education by spring 2023.
“That is 600 more nurses ready to care for our most vulnerable in ICUs across Ontario, including our pediatric ICUs,” Ford said.
“It's all hands on deck as we use every tool we have to get more nurses working in Ontario right now.”
The government is also investing more than $9.4 million to support accelerated critical care nursing at numerous universities and colleges.
Ontario’s hospitals, including those with pediatric units, have been struggling to manage an influx of patients dealing with COVID-19, influenza, and RSV. Patients have reported extraordinarily long wait times in emergency departments and some surgeries have been cancelled due to a lack of beds.
However, the Ontario government has been adamant there is not a nursing crisis in the province. Just a day earlier, Jones told reporters Ontario has “not seen a mass exodus of nurses” leaving the profession.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
In Washington progress on police brutality appears difficult, if not unlikely. Bipartisan efforts to reach an agreement on policing legislation stalled more than a year ago, and President Joe Biden ended up instead signing an executive order named for George Floyd, whose murder at the hands of Minneapolis police set off nationwide protests nearly three years ago.
After an extremely mild month of January, the province is bracing for a blast of arctic air that will move in tonight and last until Saturday. Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued extreme cold warnings that covers most of the province with wind chills expected to be between -38 and -42 across the South and -50 across Northern Quebec.
Longueuil police (SPAL) arrested Gilles Croteau, 57, in the Saint-Hubert borough on Jan. 24 after an investigation that led to 31 arrests across Quebec for various sex offences, including child pornography possession and production.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
Bostwick Road has reopened following a serious crash on Wednesday evening. Around 7:20 p.m., emergency crews responded to the scene in south London for the incident involving two vehicles.
Wiarton Willie made his prediction his spring prediction Thursday morning at 8:07 a.m. The groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning we could get an early spring.
A hearing is underway to determine if Udo Haan is not criminally responsible for the death of his wife Edra Haan, who was found in the aftermath of the 2018 house explosion in Kitchener, Ont.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Ottawa ranks 45th out of 62 cities across Canada and the United States in a study on downtown recovery, with activity levels at 51 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
While crews have resumed operations in an attempt to open the Rideau Canal Skateway for its 53rd season, an NCC spokesperson says the canal will not open in time for the first weekend of Winterlude on Friday.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
Following a suicide bomb blast that killed more than 100 people in a mosque in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar, community leaders in Windsor-Essex are reminding people these attacks are rare and should not be simply dismissed as a byproduct of living in that part of the world.
A new 911 dispatch system in New Brunswick means that now fire departments aren’t getting dispatched to all medical calls leaving residents waiting and first responders in the dark.
Calgary police are looking for suspects involved in an altercation that lasted for approximately an hour, spanned several communities and ended with a gun being fired.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
B.C.'s Ministry of Health is continuing its multi-year trend of paying millions more dollars each year to private surgical centres for the delivery of public health care, CTV News has learned.
Changes to the amount of time the public gets to voice their opinion during Surrey City Council meetings has caused controversy among former councillors.
A large crowd of around 700 students, faculty members and Lethbridge residents came out on Wednesday to protest a planned speech by Frances Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge that didn't take place.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
