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OTTAWA — The Ontario government is readying a purchase of one million COVID-19 testing kits from Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience, pending emergency regulatory approval from Health Canada, a source familiar with the situation says.

The purchase could mark the first public foray into new COVID-19 testing methods in Canada, amid growing concern that the country could be facing a chronic backlog in identifying new cases of the virus. Spartan CEO Paul Lem declined to confirm the order.

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Unlike existing technologies, the Spartan’s devices are portable, and use could be used in airports, cruise ships and makeshift medical clinics to test for potential new cases more efficiently. The company has said it can possibly confirm test results for the virus in less than one hour, compared to a days-long delay required with other methods.

Government leaders around the world have expressed worries over a shortage of testing equipment amid the pandemic, a shortage which experts say has provided an incomplete picture of the virus’s spread. Canada has confirmed at least 3,890 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, which have resulted in a total of 37 deaths.