Manitoba is making changes to how it tests for COVID-19.

Deputy Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Jazz Atwal says the changes are being implemented today (January 5th) at provincial test sites across Manitoba. Dr. Atwal explains that testing sites will continue to use PCR tests for those who might be at a higher risk of more severe illness or where a greater certainty of PCR testing is needed. But, all other Manitobans will now be sent home with a rapid antigen and asked to perform the test themselves.

According to Dr. Atwal, when someone visits a testing site, they will be asked a series of questions by the workers, which will determine whether a PCR test or rapid test is required. Those who will still qualify for a PCR test include children who can not do a rapid test at home, people who are immunocompromised, those who have been outside of Canada in the last 14 days, those who are homeless, those having surgery, or those connected to an outbreak in a high-risk setting. Click here for a complete list.

"If someone doesn't qualify for a PCR test, which most people won't, then they would be given a rapid test to take home and instructions will be given with that as well and what to do if the test is positive," says Dr. Atwal.

Dr. Atwal says anyone who tests positive on a rapid antigen test should consider themselves as having COVID-19 and take all the necessary precautions, which include notifying close contacts and following self-isolation rules. He notes except in very specific circumstances, people who test positive with a rapid test will not have to get a PCR test to confirm their COVID-19 test result. This is to preserve Manitoba's laboratory testing capacity.

Given the spread of the virus, Dr. Atwal says it is expected that Manitoba will continue to see significant demand for testing. In fact, as of Wednesday afternoon, there are about 6,800 COVID-19 tests that still need to be processed. As a result, he notes they are encouraging younger, healthier people who have symptoms to assume they have COVID-19 rather than going for testing.

"We are under-reporting the spread of the virus across the province," admits Dr. Atwal, who says it is quite possible that for every confirmed case today of COVID-19, there are eight active cases that are not confirmed.

Given that ratio, Manitoba has more than 14,000 new cases of COVID-19 today.

"We are putting some additional capacity in place to clear these tests," he says. "So you can expect to see even higher case counts in the days to come as those are dealt with."

Dr. Atwal says there may be some Manitobans who qualify for monoclonal antibody treatment. This is a treatment that is available for people who have COVID-19, are 18 years of age and over, have underlying significant health conditions such as immune suppression or organ transplant, or those 40 years of age and over who are unvaccinated and have an underlying chronic illness.

"They may be able to qualify to get a monoclonal antibody treatment which has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization, reduce the risk of an ICU bed use and reduce the risk of death as well," he says. "So prevents severe outcomes."

Meanwhile, Dr. Atwal says last week our province handed out 500,000 rapid tests. He notes they have to be strategic in how they hand out these tests in order not to run out, which has happened in other jurisdictions.

"We do anticipate another half-million tests going out this week as well and next week," he says. "So again, rapid tests are out there but we have to utilize them in a proper fashion to get the most value out of those tests as well."