Canada has detected the first two cases of contamination with the new variant of coronavirus discovered in the United Kingdom, health authorities in Ontario announced on Saturday.
“The cases are a couple in Durham who have no history of travel, exposure (to the virus) or high-risk contacts,” the country’s health ministry, the country’s most populous province, said in a statement.
The couple was placed in isolation, the note said, on the same day that Ontario re-established a multi-week blockade due to a sharp rise in the Covid-19 epidemic in early December.
Canada has suspended all flights in the United Kingdom until January 6 after the new strain of the virus appeared in that country.
Several countries announced on Saturday that they had identified confirmed cases of the British variant, such as Italy, Sweden, Spain and Japan, following infections previously reported by France, Germany, Lebanon or Denmark.
The discovery of these first cases in the Canadian province “reinforces the need for the people of Ontario to stay at home as long as possible and to continue to follow the public health guidelines, especially the isolation measures in the province, which came into force today. “Dr. Barbara Yaffe, deputy head of local health authorities, recalled.
The reconfiguration in Ontario, which has a population of 14 million and whose capital is Toronto, will take 28 days in the south of the province and 14 in the north.
The new rules especially prohibit private meetings inside, beyond the family circle. Essential companies, such as grocery stores or pharmacies, may remain open, but other units, such as restaurants, should be limited to shipping orders or home deliveries.
Canada recorded more than 534,000 cases and more than 14,700 coronavirus deaths on Saturday since the start of the pandemic.