This year's La Marató telethon to raise funds to fight Covid-19

Since 1992, Catalonia's La Marató telethon every year raises tens of millions of euros for a different medical cause, such as leukemia, diabetes, and AIDS.

This year's telethon was to raise funds for research into mental health but on Tuesday, La Marató Foundation said it will now be dedicated to the fight against Covid-19.

According to the foundation, it made this "exceptional" decision to change the theme of the telethon because the coronavirus crisis is now the "urgent research priority."

The fundraiser this year will be on December 20, with the edition to gather donations for mental health research pushed back to 2021, which will be La Marató's 30th anniversary.

Catalan TV and radio aim to raise awareness of coronavirus

Until this year's edition takes place, the TV3 television channel, Catalunya Ràdio, and the foundation will aim to raise awareness of Covid-19 to get the fundraising underway.

La Marató telethon has raised more than 197 million euros and has funded 872 medical research projects since it first began almost three decades ago.

Last year's edition, for research into minority illnesses, involved 3,600 fundraising activities in 729 municipalities around Catalonia, raising some 10 million euros in less than 24 hours.