The approval will allow production and distribution of the testing device which can potentially offer COVID-19 test results within an hour.

Spartan Bioscience, a Canadian bioscience firm, has successfully received approval from Health Canada for producing Spartan Cube, a device which is used for testing STDs, legionnaires disease and strep throat, for commencing COVID-19 tests.

Apparently, Spartan Bioscience claims that the device is capable of doing testing for COVID-19. While company CEO, Dr. Paul Lem claims that the device can give COVID-19 test results within an hour.

Canadian province, Alberta is claimed to be spending about $9.5 million to bring 250 Spartan Cubes and 100,000 testing kits to the region. Whereas Ontario has purchased 900,000 testing kits.

Currently, under the present testing models, swabs are sent to centers in large cities in Canada for testing, which can lead to delays in results at laboratories.

Lem suggests that Spartan Cube could fix this issue, further adding that authorities are planning to use the device in smaller towns, remote communities and smaller hospitals. With this, it is likely that the device will be used by health-care professional like doctors, nurses medical technicians.

As for the production is concerned, Spartan Bioscience estimates that it can develop almost 1.5 million of these tests monthly.

Meanwhile, Lem claims that the company is massively ramping up its supply chains to produce millions of tests every month. It believes that these tests can be done at border crossings and airports if the initial launch goes smoothly.

Notably, despite attaining federal approval, Alberta will still check the accuracy of the device before commencing its large-scale use.

On the other hand, several rapid testing devices are already being developed worldwide, especially across countries like the U.S., South Korea, and Europe. For instance, in South Korea, Kogen Biotech has developed a rapid testing device which has tested more than 300,000 people through drive-in centers.

Source Credit: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canadian-bioscience-firm-says-it-s-approved-for-production-of-rapid-covid-19-testing-device-1.4893257