Canada has surpassed 40,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Health Canada reports 40,190 cases as of Thursday morning, including over 1,900 deaths. Canada’s top doctor says over 620,000 Canadians have been tested to-date with only 6.5%coming back positive.
Dr. Theresa Tam says Canada-wide efforts to understand and battle the virus have exponentially helped. She pointed out the recently announced country-wide study to track COVID-19 as just one example. Tam says Thursday is a great day to consider the progress we have made in the fight against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Ottawa is boosting its arsenal of world-class researchers and scientists in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry announced an investment of $40-million to allow Genome Canada and CGen to coordinate a COVID-19 genome sequencing effort across Canada. Navdeep Bains says Canadian scientists will sequence 150,000 virus samples and 10,000 human host genomes to understand how the body responds to the virus and track its evolution.
Ottawa is also providing the national research council with $29-million for Montreal’s Human Health Therapeutics Research Center.
Bains also announced $23-million allocated to the University of Saskatchewan International Vaccine Center for preclinical testing and clinical trials.
As well, $600-million will be given to the Strategic Innovation Fund for its COVID-19 stream.
