University of Saskatchewan researchers are part of a Canada-wide consortium that has been awarded $20 million by the Government of Canada to pursue research into “long COVID”.

The funding was announced today and will be allocated over five years ot support the Post-COVID-19 condition Research Network.

Their goal is to create tools to diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate people with all forms of long COVID.

Dr. Gary Groot (MD, PhD) says, “It impacts at least 200 different body systems.”

Researchers believe long COVID will affect a significant percentage of the population and there are three clusters of symptoms-neurological symptoms, respiratory symptoms, and cardiac symptoms-and people can be in more than one cluster, and there’s also the mental health aspect due to the illnesses associated with long COVID.

The network is led by researchers and clinicians from University Health Network, University of Toronto, Université de Sherbrooke, and University of British Columbia, and includes more than 250 researchers and collaborators.

In Saskatchewan, the new funding will support ongoing research on Long COVID and hiring dozens of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and researchers, and lead to direct health benefits for people in Saskatchewan.