More than 5,000 COVID-19 test samples destroyed in Montreal
More than 5,000 people who were given a PCR test for COVID-19 in early January have not received their results because their samples were destroyed.
According to the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, due to an increase in demand for COVID screening at the beginning of the new year, laboratory capacity was exceeded between Jan. 3 and 7. This caused 5,462 samples to sit for over 72 hours before being analyzed, making their results invalid and requiring they be destroyed.
The CIUSSS covers the northern part of Montreal, spanning from Cartierville to Rivière-des-Prairies.
A message was sent to those who had their samples destroyed, urging them to get re-tested if they still have symptoms. As PCR testing is currently no longer available to the general public in Quebec, anyone who does not fall into a priority category was encouraged to use a rapid-testing kit at home.
Those eligible for PCR tests are health and social service workers, people in long-term care, homeless people, first responders, people who travel in and out of Indigenous communities, school staff, and those who linked with a suspected outbreak in a high-risk setting.
A news release from the CIUSSS said, “If you are unable to obtain these tests, isolate yourself for the number of days you are expected to be in isolation based on your vaccination status."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.