Around 12 hematologists, and scientists decided over a Zoom conference on March 29thhow to move forward in fighting COVID-19. The blood transfusion experts plan to start the biggest trial to find a cure for COVID-19 by using plasma from the individuals who beat the virus. A thousand patients, forty Canadian hospitals, and the doctors from the University of Ottawa, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, McMaster, University of Montreal, and others are involved in the study. The doctors will inject the infected patients with the convalescent plasma from the bodies of the patients that beat the virus. Convalescent plasma is the fluid in the blood-filled with antibodies. The method has already been tested in China, the USA, South Korea, and Singapore. The methods used to cure malaria are sometimes used to treat COVID-19. The doctors will extract plasma from the recovered patients, test it on the number of antibodies and if it meets the requirements the plasma will be injected into the bodies of still infected patients. “The theory is that people who have recovered from COVID infection may have antibodies to fight the virus,” says the lead researcher, Dr. Donald Arnold, a hematologist at McMaster University. At the early stages of the disease the body of an infected individual cannot produce the antibodies.Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec will be in charge of blood donation management. There is a possibility that this method will just be a waste of time and resources, however it is worth pursuing. Patients whose cases are so severe that they need to be ventilated will be able to take part in the trials. By April 1 almost all the hospitals across Canada became participants of the trials. Working out a plan like this would take half a year to a year in other circumstances.
Canada’s economy is standing still
In 2019 Canada made it in the list of the top 10 countries with the biggest economies. The pandemic of COVID-19 has cost the country a lot. The government gave away huge subsidies for individuals, businesses, and larger sectors of the economy. It may take the country two years to fight the consequences of this huge blow to the economy. However, one of the unshaken pillars of the economy even during this crisis was the digital economy. In 2016 the government of Justin Trudeau took over the country and ever since they are implementing new laws and supporting the growth of the digital economy, whether it is financing tech start-ups or helping conventional industries transition to the digital world. In 2019 Navdeep Bains took over the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Industry and published Canada’s Digital Charter. The charter is a set of 10 principles that the country will follow as it makes the digital economy and innovations the main focus of further economic growth. Two great examples, one of the inherently digital industry and one of a digitalized industry are cryptocurrencies and iGaming, respectively. Canada is one of the countries where digital currency is quite popular. There are a lot of firms dealing with cryptocurrencies. A $14 million Bitcoin Fund was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which is the 9th largest stock exchange market in the world. As of June this year, the firms dealing with digital currencies will be recognized as MSB’s in Canada and will be subjected to the same regulations as other Money Service Businesses. How does this affect traditional industries that keep up with new technologies and choose to digitalize? The gaming and casino industry was one of the first conventional industries to adopt new technologies. Online casinos of Canada have been around for several years now. Trend of online casino in Canada successfully were implemented as the regulations over the gaming were at ease. A couple of years ago the iGaming platforms started accepting digital currencies. The two industries turned out to be a perfect match for each other. They became even bigger during the pandemic. Gambling with cryptocurrencies is faster than using traditional money currencies. For the Canadian iGaming industry international market is very important and the transactions of the traditional money take days when the users of iGaming platforms live outside Canada. When the iGaming platforms started accepting cryptocurrencies the problem was solved. Thus the two industries formed a symbiotic relationship and continue supporting each other’s growth. The growth of the industry means that it will contribute more to the economy of the country. So, when the traditional industries are forced to stop working and people have to stay at home to curb the spread of the virus, the digital economy comes to rescue the financial stability of the country.
Canada Confirms More Than 98 000 Cases of COVID-19
At the moment, Canada has 98,735 COVID-19 cases. 60,241 of the infected people recovered. The country has 8,146 death cases. Quebec and Ontario are the epicenters of the outbreak with 53,952 and 32,189 cases, respectively. However, Ontario has a bigger number of recovered patients than Quebec does. 26,961 of the patients in Ontario recovered and 2,519 patients passed away. In Quebec, the number of recovered patients is 21,742. The number of deaths for the region is 5,222. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, 64% of infected people got the virus despite not having traveled or been close to an infected person. In a situation like this, it is hard to track infected people because some carriers of the virus are asymptomatic. 36% of cases are people infected from outside the country or people exposed to someone returning from outside the country. The indigenous communities and retirement facilities took the biggest blow because people live in close proximity there. As the country reopens step by step it is still advised to wear a mask and keep social distancing.
