Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said that the previously announced one million units of imported children's painkillers have begun to arrive on pharmacy shelves.

Meanwhile, Duclos stated that an additional 500,000 foreign units have been ordered and are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, adding that a separate shipment of children's painkillers from Australia is on its way to hospitals.

Parents across Canada are rushing to control fever and pain in their children as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu rates rise amid a severe shortage of children's acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

Also, in a health press conference this morning, Duclos said that in addition to emergency imports, local production has increased over the past month. More than 1.1 million units of Advil products for children were manufactured by Canadian companies in November alone.

"In some places, shelves are already showing the units received. In other places, it may take an extra day or so. We expect that next week the availability of these doses will be clearly evident on shelves across community pharmacies nationwide," Duclos explained.