All COVID-19 cases now being screened for variants across Ontario, Yaffe says
Posted February 16, 2021 4:41 pm.
As the COVID case count drops, variants of concern are rising, with cases of the more transmissible strains now being identified in 15 public health units across the province.
Ontario associate medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe says the total number of confirmed now stands at 319 across 15 public health units – the vast majority in the GTA.
Of the newly confirmed total, 309 cases are of the UK (B.1.1. 7) variant, nine are the South African (B.1.3.5.1) variant, and one is the (P.1.) Brazilian strain.
“The vast majority are the B.1.1.7. Based on an analysis of the data, 81 percent of the cases of the variants of concern are either outbreak associated or close contacts of a confirmed case,” said Yaffe on Tuesday.
“11 percent have no epidemiological link identified and 7 percent are travel related.”
RELATED: All residents of Mississauga condo building tested for COVID-19 variant
These include Simcoe-Muskoka following the outbreak at Roberta Place in Barrie.
- York Region: 49 cases
- Toronto: 38 cases
- Peel Region: 38 cases
- Durham Region: 18 cases
Yaffe says the emergence of these variants remains a significant threat adding that the transmission will only be curved if health and safety measures are maintained moving forward.
In Mississauga, public health officials are now testing all residents of a condo building for COVID-19 after five people who live there tested positive for a more contagious variant of the virus.
Doctor Theresa Tam, meanwhile, says we’ve been making steady progress against COVID-19 but the more contagious variants are now in all 10 provinces.
“These variants have been smoldering in the background and gaining fuel that now threatens to flare up into a rapidly-spreading blaze,” said Tam.
Tam says it all started with a few travel-related cases.
Country-wide, Tam says we now have 540 cases of the variant first detected in the UK, 33 cases of the South African variant, and one case of the variant first detected in Brazil.
Over the weekend, the makers of COVID-19 vaccines said they’re figuring out how to tweak their recipes against worrisome virus mutations — and regulators are looking to flu as a blueprint if and when the shots need an update.
Some studies are raising concern that first-generation COVID-19 vaccines don’t work as well against a mutant that first emerged in South Africa as they do against other versions circulating around the world.
The good news: Many of the new COVID-19 vaccines are made with new, flexible technology that’s easy to upgrade. What’s harder: Deciding if the virus has mutated enough that it’s time to modify vaccines — and what changes to make.
With files from the Canadian Press
