TORONTO (Reuters) – Health officials in Ontario said on Saturday that two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the UK had appeared in the Canadian province.
Scientists say the variant is about 40% -70% 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 history of travel, exposure or high-risk contact, occurred when the province entered a blockade on Saturday.
“This further reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay at home as long as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including closure measures across the province as of today,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, director Ontario associate physician in a statement.
Ontario reported 4,301 new cases in the past two days on Saturday, with the province seeing more than 2,000 cases a day for 12 consecutive days.
Last week, Canada extended the ban on passenger flights from Britain to Jan. 6 and expanded screening and monitoring measures for travelers arriving from South Africa, citing the rise in the most infectious variant.
Scientists say there is no evidence that vaccines in use – including one made by Pfizer and BioNtech – or other COVID-19 vaccines in development will not protect against this variant.
Canada began launching the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month and began distributing Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine nationwide last Thursday.
Canada has so far reported 541,616 COVID-19 cases, including 14,800 deaths.
Reporting by Amran Abocar; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Daniel Wallis