Canadian public health officials say that variant B.1.1.7 probably replaced the original Covid-19 virus in many parts of the country, adding that the new variants make young people sick and send more to the hospital.
“It’s not news that any of us wanted, but hospitalizations are on the rise, ICU beds are filling, variants are spreading, and even people who are convinced they shouldn’t be worried are getting sick.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference on Tuesday.
This is a third “very serious” wave of the pandemic, he added.
Trudeau appealed to young people, urging them to “stay home,” saying that young Canadians are getting sick in this third wave.
The Canadian Public Health Agency said intensive care hospitalizations had risen by 18% in the last week alone, saying the new options put “heavy pressure” on the hospital’s capacity.
“As infection rates increase, we are seeing more young adults with COVID-19 being treated in hospital,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s director general of public health.
“Many of them deteriorate quite quickly and need to be admitted to the ICU fairly immediately, and then spend quite a lot of time staying in the ICU, which means there is also an impact on capacity,” she added.
Tam explained that although hospitalizations have not increased dramatically, many of those hospitalized patients now need critical care because the variants make them more seriously ill. She added that so far more than 15,000 variants of cases have been detected, the vast majority being variant B.1.1.7, first detected in the UK.
While variant B.1.1.7 has probably become the dominant variant in Canada, Tam said his team is also pursuing a significant outbreak of P.1. variant, first detected in Brazil and now growing in some western Canadian provinces.
On Monday, the British Columbia health minister said the number of P.1 cases. the version in his province almost doubled on the weekend of the Easter holidays.
“The most transmitted variants of COVID-19 will eventually take over,” the minister said during a Covid briefing on Monday.
British Columbia has moved to close the Whistler ski resort and further restrict meetings in the province, now also facing the outbreak of the virus among NHL hockey players with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Province of Alberta has also confirmed that it is dealing with new groups of cases involving P.1. alternative.
Meanwhile, Ontario is debating new and more restrictive measures, including a home stay order, as its intensive care capacity is increasingly strained.