Ontario reported 550 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the biggest single-day increase so far

Premier Doug Ford vowed Wednesday to immediately and vastly increase the number of COVID-19 tests Ontario performs after the province faced criticism for allowing most of its lab capacity to sit idle for days.

The province has been conducting fewer than 4,000 tests per day recently, although it is able to do 13,000.

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Ontario at first didn’t have enough assessment centres, then there were not enough labs to process the tests, then the supplies of reagent — key chemicals needed for testing — were low. But now that those issues have been resolved, there is no reason for the shortfall, Ford said.

“Now my patience has run thin and no more excuses,” Ford said. “It’s unacceptable…. We say we can do 13,000 a day, then we need to start doing 13,000 every single day.”

Ford said he wants to see every long-term care resident, front-line health-care worker and first responder tested.

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