The Ford government has received the first shipment of COVID rapid tests and have already been deployed to some hospitals, 36 long term care and 27 retirement homes.

“The Abbott ID Now and the Panbio tests can turn around results in under 20 minutes and we’ve been getting these tests as quickly as we can to the front lines of our healthcare system,” said Premier Doug Ford.

The province has received 1.2 million of the PANBIO tests and 98,000 of the ID NOW rapid tests.

In addition to hospitals and long term care settings, the tests will be used for visitors to care homes, in COVID hot spot communities and in northern areas that have limited access to testing facilities.