B.C.’s top doctor says anyone with COVID-19 symptoms in the province can now get tested.

However, speaking at her Monday press conference where she announced 52 new cases and five new deaths since Saturday, Dr. Bonnie Henry though reiterated that not everyone will need to get a test.

“If you do not have symptoms, this test has very limited benefit and is not necessarily valid,” she said.

“It is for anybody who has symptoms of COVID-19, so a cough, a fever, shortness of breath – those are the things that we are concerned about, of if you’ve had contact with somebody who you know has COVID-19 or has been associated with one of the outbreaks that we know of.”

Henry says the move comes as the province continues to evolve its testing strategy based on the changing situation in British Columbia. People who need a test can do so through their family physician, their nurse practitioner or a local community collection centre.

“We’re now using testing to help us quickly identify and address any new community cases and outbreaks,” Henry noted. “We want to avoid another spike in community cases and that’s why we are we changing the strategy again to open it up.”

Prior to the change, testing in B.C. was largely focused on people at a high risk of infection, health-care workers, and people associated with clusters of the virus.