REGINA -- The province announced on Tuesday it will be increasing testing in Saskatchewan, hoping to meet a goal of 4,000 tests per day.
Starting this week, Saskatchewan Health Authority labs will implement pooled testing of asymptomatic swabs.
This will allow labs to test more specimens with fewer testing materials and increase testing output, the SHA said in a news release.
Pool testing lets lab technicians test more swabs at one time. If any of the swabs in the pool come back positive for COVID-19, all samples in the batch will be re-tested before results are released.
The SHA will be hiring 76 people. It has already hired 27 and recruitment will continue.
As well, SHA will increase the number of GeneXpert tests in the province. It will go from 200 per week to 1,200 per week.
GeneXpert is a molecular testing platform that’s located in more than 20 spaces in the province. They provide more immediate diagnostics on site, increasing capacity and improving turn-around times.
