TORONTO (Reuters) – Health officials in Ontario said on Saturday that two confirmed cases of the new variant of coronavirus first detected in the United Kingdom had appeared in the Canadian province.
Scientists say that 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 travel history, exposure or high-risk contact, came as the province went into a stalemate on Saturday.
“This further strengthens the need for Ontarians to stay home as long as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including closing the province from today,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate medical officer. from Ontario, in a statement.
Ontario reported 4,301 new cases in the past two days on Saturday, with the province recording more than 2,000 cases a day for 12 consecutive days.
Last week, Canada extended to January 6 the ban on passenger flights arriving from the UK and extended improved screening and monitoring measures for travelers arriving from South Africa, citing the increase in the more infectious variant.
Scientists say there is no evidence that current vaccines – including one by Pfizer and BioNtech – or other developing COVID-19 photos will not protect against this variant.
Canada began launching the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month and on Thursday began distributing Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine nationwide.
Canada has so far reported 541,616 cases of COVID-19, including 14,800 deaths.
Report by Amran Abocar; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Daniel Wallis