OTTAWA: Canada will extend the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) income support for the unemployed brought in to help people get through temporary job losses caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.

Currently, the CERB can be claimed for up to 16 weeks. As of June 4, the government had paid C$43.5 billion ($31.9 billion) in CERB benefits, and some 8.4 million people had applied for at least one payment, official data showed.

Trudeau said that he would provide more details about the extension "in coming days".