Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday said the number of COVID-19 tests carried out in the province has been “unacceptable” since the beginning of the pandemic. Premier Ford made the comments during a daily briefing on the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside Health Minister Christine Elliott and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton. Ford acknowledged that health officials were plagued by a lack of reagent and other problems that resulted in a testing backlog, but said those issues are now resolved and that the province needs to ramp up testing immediately. “We’re going to get a move on it,” he said. The premier also announced his administration would will extend hours of construction on critical projects such as hospitals, temporary structures and assessment centres needed to identify and treat patients during the novel coronavirus pandemic. He said the province would ramp up inspections to ensure essential workers on these projects and in other areas are kept safe and said his government was issuing a call to retired inspectors to help with the increased inspections. Ontario reported 550 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday and 21 more deaths, bringing the provincial total to 5.276. The death toll has risen to 174. The province has so far tested 84,601 people for the virus. There are 1,102 cases currently under investigation and awaiting test results. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/6793268/ontario-coronavirus-covid19-cases-april-8/ Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on Twitter
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