COVID-19 rapid tests going to more businesses

Ottawa is making more rapid COVID-19 tests available to small and medium businesses and Alberta truckers will be able to get vaccines south of the border under a new deal with Montana.

Tests that screen for the virus in as little as 15 minutes can be ordered from 40 Shopper's Drug Mart locations in Ontario and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's network.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says more screening and testing mean safer workplaces and less community transmission, which will help the economy reopen faster.

Meanwhile, some 2,000 Alberta truck drivers who transport goods across the border will, as of Monday, be able to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine at a rest stop in Montana at no cost and without appointments.

To the east, Quebec hit a single-day record with more than 102,000 shots in the past day and has now given at least one dose to about 40 per cent of the population.

The province is reporting 919 new infections today and five more deaths, with six fewer hospitalizations and five fewer intensive care patients.

In Ontario, nearly 144,000 doses of vaccine were given since its latest report — for a total of almost six million.

The province is reporting 3,166 new cases of COVID-19 and 23 more deaths linked to the virus. Hospitalizations there have dropped by 40.