The Canadian government is providing significant funds towards Covid-19 coronavirus research projects to combat the spread of the disease.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined an investment of $275 million to enhance Canada’s capacity in research and development as part of Canada’s COVID-19 response, including research on medical countermeasures such as antivirals, vaccine development and support for clinical trials.
Thanks to this new investment in coronavirus research, Canada’s Minister of Health Patty Hajdu announced the next rollout of $25 million. This allows the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to rapidly double the number of COVID-19 coronavirus research projects funded, adding 49 new projects to the 47 projects previously announced on March 6.
That investment was $26.8 million over two years to support the 47 research projects, which brings the new total to $51.8 million
That brings the total projects to 96 which is led by researchers across the country that will focus on developing and implementing measures to rapidly detect, manage, and reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 evolves quickly, and protecting the health of Canadians is our priority,” said Health Minister Haidu.
“The additional teams of researchers receiving funding today will help Canada quickly generate the evidence we need to contribute to the global understanding of the COVID-19 illness. Their essential work will contribute to the development of effective vaccines, diagnostics, treatments, and public health responses.”
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Canadian government has consulted with experts from around the world and supported Canadian researchers to help combat this new coronavirus.
The Canadian government provided the funding ($26.8M) for the first wave of COVID-19 coronavirus research projects through the CIHR, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Genome Canada (GC).
The coronavirus research priorities for this call were informed by ongoing dialogue with the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R), of which Canada is a member; through Canada’s participation at the World Health Organization (WHO)-GLoPID-R research and innovation forum of February 11-12, 2020 in Geneva; and by the WHO R&D Blueprint on COVID-19.
As of March 21, there were 1,328 cases in Canada and 19 deaths. Worldwide there were 307,277 cases and 13,048 deaths.
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