December 14, 2022 | Ottawa, Ontario | Public Health Agency of Canada
Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be guided by the latest science, evidence and research. To promote and protect the health and safety of Canadians, the Government of Canada continues its work to understand how COVID-19 affects people, including its longer-term symptoms. Post COVID-19 condition (PCC) or "long COVID" refers to symptoms experienced more than three months after an initial infection. While scientific knowledge of this condition is growing, much is still unknown.
The Government of Canada is working with national and international experts, as well as provinces and territories, to advance knowledge of PCC to better understand it and support people who have or continue to experience longer-term effects and to effectively prevent future cases. Given the complexity of this condition, Canada's Chief Science Advisor, Dr. Mona Nemer, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Health Canada (HC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) are working together to coordinate important research and data gathering efforts to inform future work, including health care system monitoring and support for patients.
Dr. Nemer established a multidisciplinary Task Force on Post COVID-19 Condition to investigate and advise on ways to address post COVID-19 condition in Canada. The product of their deliberations will be a report that takes into account existing scientific literature, published evidence, experience of health care providers and the perspectives of people with lived experience. The report's executive summary and recommendations, released today, propose an integrated framework for addressing PCC in Canada. The full report is expected to be released by end of January.
Officials from PHAC, HC, and CIHR will review the recommendations, which will be critical in informing future all-inclusive action in responding to PCC. In response to the report, the Government of Canada has established a Post COVID-19 Condition Secretariat within PHAC to coordinate a whole-of-government approach to address evidence and data gaps around the condition.
To further expand knowledge of PCC, the Government of Canada has taken a number of additional actions this past year. Budget 2022 provided $20 million over five years for CIHR to establish a Canadian PCC Research Network to improve the understanding of the biological, clinical, mental health, health systems and population health impacts of the condition. The network will also leverage this research to develop programs and policies regarding the condition. The CIHR will announce the establishment of this Network in early 2023.
Through collaboration among PHAC, Statistics Canada, and the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF), a population-based survey (the Canadian COVID-19 Antibody and Health Survey -Cycle 2) was launched in April 2022, to estimate the prevalence of PCC in adults living in Canada and provide information on risk factors, symptoms, and impacts on daily functioning to better inform our response.
The Government of Canada will continue to work with the provinces, territories and other partners in Canada and around the world to monitor current and emerging national and international evidence on PCC. Key areas of interest include how common longer-term effects are, the types of complications that may occur, who is most at risk of developing complications and identifying effective measures for its prevention, treatment, and management.
