On the issue of getting ready for variants, Canada began its work to be ready for the detection and the characterization of variants in April 2020 through the investment of $40 million into the CanCOGeN initiative. Through that work, we were able to study the early rise of variants of concern, including the emergence in the summer of the D.614G variant, and provide characterization.
What we're doing now is building on that foundation of success and further expanding our ability to sequence, to study and to understand the spread of these variants through a combined, robust surveillance program, including laboratory and epidemiology resources, matched to a strong research arm, and that is able to swiftly work on a common research agenda to deliver information in as close to real time as possible to decision-makers to inform further policy.