Health officials in Ontario said Saturday that two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant first discovered in the United Kingdom have surfaced in the Canadian province.
Scientists say the variant is about 40% -70% more mobile than the original species. Several other countries, including Australia, Italy and the Netherlands say they have found cases of the new snoring.
The cases came from Canada, identified in a couple in southern Ontario with no high-risk travel, disclosure or communication history, when the province went into lockdown Saturday.
“This reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay at home as much as possible and to continue to follow all public health advice, including nationwide closure measures. today, ”Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer, said in a statement.
Ontario reported 4,301 new cases over the past two days Saturday, with the province seeing more than 2,000 cases daily for 12 consecutive days.
Last week, Canada extended to January 6 a ban on passenger flights coming from Britain and extended enhanced screening and inspection measures for South African passengers, announcing the the variable becomes more contagious.
Scientists say there is no evidence that vaccines currently in use – including one made by Pfizer and BioNtech – or other Covid-19 strains in development will not protect against this variable.
Canada began rolling out the Pfizer vaccine earlier this month and began rolling out the Covid-19 Moderna Inc vaccine nationwide last Thursday.
Canada has so far reported 541,616 cases of Covid-19, including 14,800 deaths.