TRUDEAU ANNOUNCES $1.1B SCIENTIFIC PLAN TO FIGHT PANDEMIC
Apr 23, 2020
By Bob Komsic
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The Trudeau government’s announced a medical and research strategy to tackle COVID-19.
”The better we understand this virus,” says the prime minister, ”the better we can fight it and eventually defeat it.”
The strategy breaks down this way:
$115-million for research into vaccines and treatments being developed in hospitals and universities (which is in addition to the $275-million announced at the outset of the pandemic).
$662-million for clinical trials in Canada.
$350-million to expand national testing and modelling to be overseen by a new COVID-19 immunity task force.
One of its members will be David Naylor, who chaired the committee that reviewed Canada’s response to SARS in 2003.
One million Canadians will be tested as part of the study over the next two years.
Currently, 20,000 tests are being done daily.
”Testing must increase even further before we can reopen and restart our normal activities as a country,” Trudeau added.