Air Canada and Covid-19

Air Canada last week said that it is finalising an initial order of Abbott's ID NOW Covid-19 rapid response tests as part of its ongoing evaluation of Covid-19 testing technology and protocols.

The airline, which last month partnered with McMaster Health Labs (MHL) and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) in a study of arriving international travellers at Toronto-Pearson, said preliminary results from the study indicate testing can help protect customers and facilitate the safe relaxation of government travel restrictions.

"Air Canada continues to explore various options for testing for Covid-19 and we are finalizing an initial order from Abbott for 25,000 rapid test kits for voluntary employee testing now that it has been approved for use in Canada. Understanding that we will need to live alongside this virus for the short- to medium-term, we have been pursuing relationships and a layered approach as a way to keep our employees and our customers safe.  We believe testing will be key to protecting employees and customers until such time as a Covid-19 vaccine is available. Rapid testing is also a means to enable governments to relax current blanket travel restrictions and quarantines in a measured way while still safeguarding the health and safety of the public," said Dr Jim Chung, Air Canada's Chief Medical Officer.

Since the Toronto-Pearson study began on 3 September MHL has conducted nearly 13,000 tests of returning international travellers who volunteered to participate. Of those more than 99% have tested negative for Covid-19 with less than 1% having indicated Covid-19. Of the less than 1% indicative more than 80% are being detected in the initial test and the rest on the Day 7 test, with none being detected by the Day 14 test.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2020-09-03-mcmaster-healthlabs-air-canada-and-greater-toronto-airports-authority-to-conduct-a-voluntary-covid-19-study-of-arriving-international-traveller

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