The Ontario Government has amended legislation to allow for asymptomatic testing in pharmacies, with Premier Doug Ford recently saying he hoped it could happen by the end of this week.
On Friday, the PCs amended the Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act.
A person registered as a pharmacist under the Pharmacy Act,1991 is exempt from sections 5 to 16 of the Act and from the provisions of this Regulation with respect to collecting specimens for a polymerase chain reaction test for COVID-19 in a pharmacy within the meaning of the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act," the amendment says.
It also came in effect when it was filed.
Ford said Friday he hoped testing at pharmacies would be underway, while also signalling the government's highly-anticipated fall preparedness plan would be released.
The testing has been in Alberta since early June, with that province's health minister saying Wednesday that roughly 3,000 of the tests happen daily and over 100,000 have been conducted since testing began.
425 new cases were reported in Ontario on Monday, the highest new daily number since early June.