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As the Quebec government prepares to announce its plan next week to gradually reopen the province, experts agree there’s one aspect that will be needed, regardless of what approach is taken: widespread testing.

“Test, test, test,” Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s director of public health, has repeated from the beginning of the pandemic.

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Those leading the charge say the pieces have fallen into place for an effective testing ramp-up once public health officials decide it’s time.

According to Dr. Michel Roger, director of the testing program in Quebec, not only is the province on track to greatly increase its daily testing capacity, it could also be ready to roll out serology testing within the next three weeks — blood tests for antibodies often seen as a key to any deconfinement strategy.

“We can’t dream in Technicolor. We’ll never be able to test everyone in Quebec. Not with more than 8 million people,” Roger said this week. “But the testing capacity is there and we plan to increase it even more. And the capacity for serological tests will be there, too.”