Ontario confirms 1st case of South African variant in Peel Region
Posted February 1, 2021 3:19 pm.
Last Updated February 1, 2021 8:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says the province has its first case of a COVID-19 variant, officially designated as B.1.351, detected in South Africa.
Dr. David Williams says the confirmed infection has been identified in a man from Peel Region with no travel history or contacts.
It’s unclear how the resident contracted the new strain of the virus. Currently, he is recovering at home.
As of Monday, Ontario is reporting 69 cases of the variant first discovered in the UK, known as B.1.1.7, with 39 of those infections coming out of York Region.
As for Peel Region, they currently have 7 total variant cases, including the B.1.351 case.
“What’s our response in Ontario? We have given to the government our six-point plan to enhance the existing efforts of the province to detect, track, trace, and contain the spread of COVID-19, and in particular the variants, at this time,” Williams said Monday.
“The plan includes updated public health guidance, enhanced laboratory surveillance in response to the new mutations including the South African variant.”
Williams says data from South Africa shows the variant has a higher viral load, meaning it may be more infectious.
“This is our first South African one [case]. I would doubt if it’s going to be our last.”
The Ford government kicked off its mandatory testing plan at Pearson airport in Toronto. The provincial government announced the program on Friday, the same day the federal government announced a similar pilot that’s to take effect in the coming weeks.
The provincial government will coordinate further safeguarding efforts for emerging variants by sequencing up to 10 percent of all positive tests by February 17.
“I think in principle the concern is we do have the variants we have the UK variant and undoubtedly, some of them are not connected to travel,” associated chief medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said.
“We now have the South African variant case and it’s still under investigation but so far, no connection to travel.”
Toronto Public Health says it also believes a COVID-19 outbreak at a meat production facility is linked to UK variant — with two people testing positive for the strain out of a total of 78 confirmed cases.
Ontario released updated provincial data last week with Dr. Adalsteinn Brown admitting that variants are of great concern moving forward.
Brown noted that the B.1.1.7 variant is at least 30 percent higher in terms of transmissibility than the current strain.
“The variant from the United Kingdom gives us less room to relax and less room for error,” the doctor said Thursday.
“It is a significant threat to controlling the pandemic.”
In the UK, the government announced Monday that “surge testing” will take place in various parts of the country after the South Africa variant was detected there.
Clinical trial data on Novavax and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines show that the South African variant is lessening its ability to protect against the illness.
Novavax reported mid-stage trial results last week that showed its vaccine was 50 percent effective overall at protecting people against the South Africa variant.
That compared with late-stage results from the UK, in which the vaccine was up to 89.3 percent effective at preventing the virus.
Novavax submitted its COVID-19 vaccine to Health Canada for regulatory approval on Friday.
Officials say because the South African variant shares the same mutation believed to be responsible for increased transmissibility as the UK strain, it will follow that it shares traits with it.
This includes being up to 70 percent more transmissible and potentially linked to higher mortality rates.
The variant first found in South Africa was detected in October. Since then, it has been found in at least 30 other countries including the U.S.
