COVID-19

TORONTO – A new Bluetooth-based COVID-19 contact tracing app developed in Canada is set to be rolled out for testing in Ontario in early July, provincial officials said. The app, called COVID Alert, was built using open-source code by the Ontario Digital Service, in conjunction with a volunteer team from Ottawa-based Shopify. Read More

HAMILTON, ON – Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), the industry-led organization behind Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, has announced an additional $6 million in funding for projects dedicated to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Read More

VANCOUVER – A network of physicians and researchers has been formed to study maternal and infant outcomes among pregnant women who fell ill with COVID-19. Every province and territory has signed on to work with local public health departments and collect data. Read More

TORONTO – Drone Delivery Canada Corp. (DDC) has announced with the assistance of Air Canada and the Pontiac Group, it has entered into a commercial agreement with The David McAntony Gibson Foundation o/a GlobalMedic (GM) to deploy DDC’s patented drone delivery solution to provide service to the Beausoleil First Nation Community (BFN) in Ontario. Read More

MONTREAL – After two months of determined effort, a team of Montreal researchers has produced a “made-from-scratch” version of the gold-standard laboratory test for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The test was developed by a large team of scientists led by Dr. Martin Schmeing (pictured), director of the Centre de recherche en biologie structurale (CRBS) at McGill University and Dr. Don van Meyel, director of the Centre for Translational Biology (CTB) at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Read More

VANCOUVER – UBC researchers are collaborating with local partners to establish a network of portable, handheld ultrasound scanners that can soon accelerate COVID-19 diagnosis in B.C. and potentially beyond. Read More

MONTREAL – The TELUS Friendly Future Foundation has made a major donation of $170,000 to the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) and its Research Centre to support an innovative project directly focused on the needs arising from the health crisis. The funds will help develop an alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs to address anticipated shortages of traditional swabs. Read More

OTTAWA – Canada may soon be implementing a more unified approach to tracing the close contacts of COVID-19 cases, including a federally recommended app to track people’s movements. The government is eyeing several smartphone apps to help with contact tracing efforts, with the aim of finding one that stands apart. Read More

TORONTO – VEXOS Inc., a Global Electronics Manufacturing services provider, has signed an agreement with the Government of Canada to manufacture 10,000 Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM) units in the national mobilization to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

MONTREAL – Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, announced the release of its COVID-19 tracing application, called COVI, and a White Paper prepared by the researchers involved in the project. Read More