Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to speak at the committee today.
LuminUltra Technologies Ltd. is a wholly Canadian-owned company headquartered in Fredericton, New Brunswick. We were founded 25 years ago and have an extensive history of rapid, portable molecular biology-based diagnostic testing solutions. We are a Canadian success story and a growing company. In 2018, we acquired InstantLabs of Baltimore, Maryland, and just last month we acquired Source Molecular of Miami, Florida.
Prior to the pandemic, we were an internationally focused business with 90% of our customers outside of Canada. We were primarily focused originally on water-related industries, serving the sectors of drinking water, aviation and oil and gas.
I am based in the U.K. and joined LuminUltra in August 2019 as the director of global business development. Today I join you from Mexico, where I've been speaking at the annual conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association.
On March 20, LuminUltra responded to a call from Canada to help build a domestic testing supply for COVID-19. On April 9, we began delivering 500,000 test equivalents per week to the federal government and each of the provincial governments through a contract with the Public Health Agency of Canada. We continue to be the key supplier of COVID-19 testing reagent for Canadian governments.
The daunting challenge of the pandemic has also created economic opportunity. By working with a Canadian company to build this supply, government has enabled us to create the further growth of jobs and economic impact right here in Canada. Since the pandemic, we have hired over 60 additional personnel, have grown our workforce to over 140 and have constructed and opened a new multi-million dollar state-of-the-art production facility in Fredericton.
In May we launched a complete environmental surveillance test for COVID-19. Environmental surveillance testing includes testing of surfaces and waste water for the presence of the virus. By testing for the virus, it's possible to identify if an infected person has interacted with any space, be that a waiting room or an aircraft considered as a possible point of transmission. This surveillance testing is non-invasive and can produce important insight into the health of the population interacting with these spaces.
On November 27, Health Canada approved our complete clinical test. We now provide a complete end-to-end solution for human testing, including consumables, testing devices and testing chemicals. Unlike other rapid tests, our test is built on PCR technology. PCR testing is the gold standard test, providing rapid, accurate results, and unlike antigen testing, it has proven to be much more effective, particularly in identifying asymptomatic or presymptomatic carriers.
Our PCR testing devices range from a small, portable point-of-need device capable of running up to 16 samples in under two hours to a high-capacity unit capable of running 96 samples in under two hours. This is fully scalable as a solution and multiple machines can be run in parallel to run as many samples as needed, again with results in under two hours.
LuminUltra has spent many years working with the aviation industry to understand the unique challenges and opportunities the industry faces. We are seeing the industry use testing to respond to the significant challenges of COVID-19, including in countries throughout Europe where PCR tests are done at airports as the passengers land, requiring passengers to self-isolate while waiting only a few hours for their results.
Supporting investment in additional PCR testing capacity will allow Canadians to complete essential travel more safely by allowing multiple types of testing, including surfaces and waste water, for a more complete and non-invasive insight into the health of interactions; providing opportunity to reduce long self-isolation periods by providing measurable, reliable clinical testing; and establishing best practices as we head into greater vaccine availability, ensuring testing protocols are in place, understood and complied with before travel commences.
The aviation industry has been deeply affected by the global pandemic. While news of a vaccine is promising, there will be a continued need for ongoing testing to ensure that we do not leave our communities open to potential risk.
We are proud to have been part of Canada's COVID-19 testing solution since the beginning of the pandemic, and we hope that we are able to use our made-in-Canada solution to help Canada survive through the balance of the pandemic and thrive and recover as Canada returns to normality.
I look forward to your questions.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.