With COVID-19 numbers flattened across the province the amount of testing for the virus has dropped.

That’s even as provinces like Ontario are ramping up testing.

Questions have been repeatedly raised in this province as to why testing here has not expanded to include those with no symptoms.

Health Minister John Haggie says the situation in Newfoundland and Labrador is very different than that in Ontario, and the test is a diagnostic one.

Due to there being a very low count in the general population, that can cause problems.

He says because of the inherent errors in tests, there could be more of a problem testing asymptomatic people because you could get false positives, or worse, false negatives. That allows people who may have the illness to go around with a false sense of security and the potential to infect many others.