Health officials identify COVID-19 variant in student at Kitchener school

Public health officials have identified a probable case of a COVID-19 variant in a student at a Kitchener, Ont., school.

The Waterloo Region District School Board says the patient is a student at W.T. Townshend Public School who is a close contact of someone who previously tested positive for a virus variant of concern.

The board says the student at W.T. Townshend Public School tested positive for the virus and is a close contact of someone positive for a variant of concern.

The board did not offer details on which variant is suspected to be behind the case.

It says it is not declaring an outbreak at the moment, since the student is part of a “dismissed cohort.”

It adds that the discovery of potential variants is not surprising given their spread throughout the province.

The board says case and contact management efforts for the student’s cohort are underway, adding no other cohorts need to be dismissed at this time.