The first Canadian clinical trials for a possible COVID-19 vaccine have just been approved by Health Canada, Justin Trudeau told reporters on May 16. How's that for some good long weekend news?

The Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University will be conducting the trials. If the trials are successful, the National Research Council of Canada will work with manufacturers to produce and distribute the drug.

"Research and development take time and must be done right," said Trudeau. "But this is encouraging news."

Trudeau also announced the federal government would be giving $100 million to the Canadian Red Cross and $15 million to the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy Ecosystem Fund to help with their COVID-19 responses.

One million Canadian blood samples are also going to be collected over the next year in a process called serological testing in order to track the virus in the general population and specific groups like elderly and healthcare workers.