Outage that prevented Public Health Ontario from issuing COVID-19 test results fixed, agency says

An unexpected outage that temporarily prevented Public Health Ontario (PHO) from issuing COVID-19 test results to patients has been fixed, the agency said early Thursday.

"Normal operations have resumed regarding test results reported into the lab information system," PHO said in a statement.

"Test results affected by the outage yesterday are now being inputted into the lab information system and will be completed today," it continued.

The agency initially announced the outage on its website Wednesday afternoon, and cautioned that some laboratory test results may be delayed as a result.

PHO continued to collect test samples throughout the outage.

The provincial government said earlier this week that it is working to ramp up testing amid an upward trend in COVID-cases, with a goal of reaching 50,000 tests per day.

Officials announced yesterday that testing for asymptomatic people would be rolling out at up to 60 pharmacies provincewide starting Friday.

The testing initiative is the second part of the government's fall pandemic preparedness plan. The first piece involved purchasing millions of seasonal flu shots that the government is encouraging all residents to get.

CBC News has obtained a 21-page draft version of the plan, provided by a government source, in advance of more details being officially revealed later today.