Canada will conduct a survey to learn more about “long COVID”, a still poorly understood syndrome. In the study, which begins this week, 100,000 randomly selected people across the country will be asked to complete an online survey and submit a blood sample.
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“I think this initiative is excellent. This kind of study will be very rich in data and could allow us to have hypotheses for possible treatments”, rejoices the DD Emilia Falcone, who set up the Montreal post-COVID clinic at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM).
In government, it is hoped that this study will make it possible to assess the prevalence of long-term COVID-19 in Canada, while obtaining information on the risk factors, symptoms and impact of this syndrome on daily life.
For the time being, information on the post-coronavirus syndrome remains limited, has also indicated in this sense the chief public health officer of Canada, the DD Theresa Tam, in a recent press release.
“The deepening of our knowledge of COVID-19, including its long-term effects, is crucial to our response to the pandemic and to our recovery”, also agrees the Federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos. .
This research will also aim to better understand the effects of the pandemic on the health and well-being of Canadians. Access to health care will also be studied.
Chief statistician at Statistics Canada, Anil Arora specifies for his part that “researchers and decision-makers still need crucial information to better understand not only the virus as such, but also its social, economic and health repercussions”.
Estimate the number of infections
A total of 100,000 randomly selected Canadians aged 18 and over will therefore receive an invitation from Statistics Canada to take part in the survey shortly. As of this week, some 33,000 first selected participants will receive a kit by mail. The rest of the test kits will be distributed in May and June.
In addition to the invitations to complete the online survey, respondents will receive dried blood drop analysis tests to be done using a finger swab to screen for antibodies to the virus.
Blood tests will provide an estimate of the number of Canadians who have already had an infection with the virus. In recent months, the use of PCR tests for screening for the virus has decreased significantly. In Quebec, the tests are reserved for caregivers and at risk. The number of cases reported daily likely reflects only a portion of total infections.
“Given that many vaccinated Canadians have only mild symptoms, if any, hospitalization rates also do not give us the full picture of COVID-19 in Canada,” said Catherine Hankins, co-chair of the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.