Testing people without symptoms is not recommended in B.C. and is generally not available through the provincial health care system. This includes routine screening for employment, for travel, in schools, before surgery or for other health procedures. This advice may be different from other provinces or countries. Read the letter from the Provincial Health Officer on testing prior to travel in B.C.

One of the reasons B.C. is not testing people without symptoms is because there are low levels of COVID-19 in the province. Most cases in B.C. have happened because of known contact with another person with COVID-19 or within a cluster of cases. Very few cases of COVID-19 have been in people where the source is unknown. B.C. has been testing anyone with symptoms since May and currently only 2% of tests come back positive. This is a very low rate and it's expected that there would be even fewer positive results if testing was done for people without symptoms.



Some people may be worried that people without symptoms may have COVID-19 and could pass it on to others. While this could happen, the chances of this happening are very small because of the low levels of COVID-19 in the province.





There are some private pay clinics that offer testing for a fee to people who require asymptomatic testing for reasons that fall outside of B.C. public health recommendations, as outlined in the testing guidelines, such as for travel or employment.





Please contact these clinics directly to learn more and to arrange for this testing.