[ad_1]
TRENTON, Canada
Canada marked a grim milestone on Monday, as coronavirus deaths topped 15,000.
As if that news wasn’t bad enough, over the weekend the country reported its first cases of the new strain of the virus, which first appeared recently in the UK.
It was discovered in the capital city of Ottawa, Vancouver Island in British Columbia and east of Toronto in Ontario, where the first two cases were diagnosed, on Saturday. The province of Ontario was closed on December 26.
The variant strain of COVID-19 is believed to be more contagious, but scientists do not believe that it is more deadly and also that the vaccine now administered in Canada and other countries will provide protection against it.
The scientists also said that the virus could continue to mutate into new strains.
“While the above data suggests that these newer variants may be more transmissible, to date there is no evidence that they cause more serious disease or have any impact on the antibody response or the effectiveness of the vaccine,” said the Agency for Public Health Canada in a statement Saturday. .
At first, health authorities said they could find no link between cases of the new strain of the virus and travel. But that changed on Sunday after an investigation found that the two cases near Toronto occurred after the couple came into contact with a person who had recently arrived from the UK.
The infected person in Ottawa was found to have recently traveled to the UK and in British Columbia, authorities said the cases were related to a person who flew from the UK to Canada on December 15.
“This further reinforces the need … to stay home as much as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including the province-wide lockdown measures issued today,” the Associate Director of Health said Saturday. Ontario, Dr. Barbara Yaffe.
As of Monday, Canada had 556,786 virus cases and 15,001 deaths.
The Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news that is offered to subscribers in the AA News Transmission System (HAS), and in summary form. Contact us for subscription options.
[ad_2]
