Alberta becomes first Canadian province to invest in serology testing of Covid-19

Serology testing, also known as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, is different from the swab testing.

It is also known as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, the most effective way of treatment for the current virus infection, which is currently available to all Albertans.

On the other hand, Serology testing detects the presence of antibodies in a person’s blood and reveals if a person has been exposed to the Covid-19 virus in the past.

Alberta Health would fund four voluntary public health studies to conduct serologically testing on specific groups of Albertans for the virus.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) would also make the serology testing available for specific clinical purposes to get information on treatment decisions.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, told a news conference, “We anticipate that there are people in the province who have been infected with Covid-19 and either were not tested or were unaware that they had the virus.

"Investing in these representative public health studies will help us understand what percentage of Albertans have a history of infection, and how to improve our health response."

Tyler Shandro, Alberta Minister of Health, said, "Alberta is the first province in Canada to invest in serology testing to expand our testing capacity and help us track the spread of the virus...We are well in stage 2 of relaunching our economy and relaunching our health system but as Dr. Hinshaw has said the Covid virus is still with us...Alberta continues to be the world leader in testing.

In fact, we now have completed more than 4,000 tests and will be going to keep on leading Canada and the world. That is why I am pleased to announce that our government is investing $10 million into targeted serological testing to help track the spread of Covid-19."

“Albertans’ collective efforts to follow public health guidelines have helped to significantly slow the spread of Covid-19 in our province.

In addition to our robust testing efforts to detect positive cases, antibody testing is one more tool that will provide the critical data we need to monitor and track the virus within our communities,” said Dr. Verna Yiu, president, and CEO, Alberta Health Services in a news release.

The $10-million investment would fund two pediatric studies to measure the prevalence of Covid-19 antibody among groups of Calgary and Edmonton children until 2022.

A third study will be devoted to testing blood samples collected for other purposes across the province, and a fourth study would aim at regular testing of select Albertans over the age of 45 to help officials better estimate the number of people exposed to Covid-19.

Serology studies investment would not only facilitate Alberta to better estimate the number of people who have previously contracted Covid-19, but also provide information about the spread of the virus over time.

Serology testing would be offered by Alberta Precision Laboratories for specific clinical purposes and research studies for funded population-level.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)