Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P., Minister of Health: Thank you for your question. There are two angles to be considered: first, the federal role and federal use of those tests, and second, the provincial and territorial responsibility for and operations regarding those rapid tests.

Let me first speak to the federal role. We had indeed procured a very large number of those rapid tests in the last year and in the last few weeks in particular. Some of those tests have been used in federal departments, like Correctional Service Canada, Indigenous Services Canada and the Armed Forces, for a long time — since the fall of 2020.

Provinces and territories have been unequal and perhaps slower in their use of and demand for rapid tests for most of 2020 and 2021. That was until the beginning of December when we had to increase fivefold the number of rapid tests we were delivering to them because they were asking for more. So we multiplied by five, therefore, from 7 million on average — that was their request for most of 2021 — to 35 million in December. Multiply it by four again, to 140 million for January. All of those tests had been received by the end of January. The majority of those tests had already been received by provinces and territories prior to the end of January. My understanding is that all of those tests are being delivered now to provinces and territories as we work toward a longer-term path for the use of rapid tests.