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TORONTO: Health officials in Ontario said yesterday that two confirmed cases of the new variant of the coronavirus first detected in the United Kingdom have appeared in the Canadian province.
Scientists say the variant is about 40-70 percent more transmissible than the original strain. Several other countries, including Australia, Italy and the Netherlands, say they have detected cases of the new strain.
The Canadian cases, identified in a couple in southern Ontario with no known travel history, exposure or high-risk contact, came as the province entered a lockdown on Saturday.
“This further reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay home as much as possible and to continue to follow all public health advice, including the province-wide closure measures beginning today,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate medical director, in a statement.
Ontario reported 4,301 new cases in the past two days on Saturday, and the province recorded more than 2,000 cases per day for 12 consecutive days.
Last week, Canada extended the ban on passenger flights arriving from Britain until January 6 and expanded improved screening and monitoring measures for travelers arriving from South Africa, citing the rise of the most infectious variant.
Scientists say there is no evidence that vaccines currently being deployed, including one made by Pfizer and BioNtech, or other Covid-19 injections in development do not protect against this variant.
Canada began rolling out the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month and began distributing Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine across the country last Thursday.
Canada has so far reported 541,616 Covid-19 cases, including 14,800 deaths. – Reuters
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