As athletes and sports return to training and provincial health restrictions are lifted, CCES has developed supplemental doping control procedures to allow the resumption of urine sample collection under the Canadian Anti-Doping Program.

All CCES personnel will now complete a COVID-19 self-assessment prior to carrying out tests, while appropriate physical distancing is set to be maintained as much as possible.

Once notified, athletes will complete a self-assessment as well. 

The number of participants in all testing sessions will be limited and they will be obliged to wear a face mask and use hand sanitiser. 

The drafting process for the guidelines involved a complete review and risk assessment of each aspect of the doping control process, factoring in guidance from the World Anti-Doping Agency and provincial health authorities.

"At the very core of our return-to-testing plan is the health and safety of our athletes and our sample collection personnel," said CCES President and chief executive Paul Melia.

"The CCES would like to thank athletes and sport organisations for their cooperation and assistance with the implementation of the supplemental sample collection procedures."

CCES announced that it would suspend all doping control testing due to the pandemic on March 27. 

The suspension was based on the provincial health guidance available at the time and the inability of CCES to implement risk-mitigation strategies for the potential transmission of COVID-19. 

Athletes have still had to submit whereabouts information, but no samples have been collected. 

Other anti-doping authorities such as UK Anti-Doping and the United States Anti-Doping Agency also scaled back their programmes in light of the crisis.