Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.
Indeed, this was a full-on project for the department, an around-the-clock effort to look at every single available supplier. I mentioned the global numbers earlier—the 530 million rapid tests that were purchased, the 264 million that were shipped. This involved establishing contractual relationships with at least 15 suppliers that we now have—a range of global suppliers. As well, we're proud to say that we've worked with some domestic companies, Artron being one that's already provided over six million rapid tests domestically. Other companies, like BTNX, which is an importer, were doing important work within Canada in terms of labelling and finishing the product.
We were making efforts to have a domestic component to the extent possible, but really this was an effort to make sure that we had an abundance of supply from all available sources. It required not only the contracts, but also some logistic support. It's not only that they were manufactured, but there was such global competitive pressure in place that just getting access to airports and planes was a huge challenge. That was a big part, just on the logistics of the arrival, the warehousing and the delivery to the provinces.