Ontario announced on Saturday its first two confirmed cases in the province of the COVID-19 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom.
Ontario is the first province to identify the new COVID-19 variant.
The confirmed cases identified are from a couple from Durham Region with no known travel history, exposure or high-risk contacts, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, said in a news release on Saturday. Durham Region is east of Toronto.
Both individuals have been informed and are now in self-isolation as per public health protocols, it said.
“This further reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay home as much as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including the provincewide shutdown measures beginning today,” Yaffe said.
“Durham Region Health Department has conducted case and contact investigation and Ontario is working in collaboration with our federal counterparts at the Public Health Agency of Canada.”
The variant has now been detected in multiple countries beyond Britain, including Denmark, Belgium, Australia and the Netherlands.
With inbound international travel, it is not unexpected to have identified the new variant in Ontario, the news release said.
Modelling and epidemiological studies suggest that the COVID-19 variant first identified in the U.K. can spread easier and faster, but there is no evidence that it is more likely to cause severe illness or to suggest that Health Canada-approved vaccines will be any less effective against the new variant, it said.
“Recognizing the potential increased risk that inbound international travellers may pose with this new variant, the province continues to call on the federal government to urgently partner with Ontario to implement testing at Toronto Pearson International Airport,” the release added.
Earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the federal government wasn’t doing enough to protect Ontario from international travellers, suggesting they’re a problematic source of COVID-19 spread in the province.
However, based on the provincial government’s own statistics, travel-related COVID-19 cases represent a small number of infections.
“Regardless of whether federal support is forthcoming, the Ontario government is prepared to act on its own to implement an airport testing program,” the news release said.
Ontario under provincewide lockdown starting Saturday
Ontario entered a provincewide lockdown at 12:01 a.m. on Boxing Day in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The province has reported more than 2,000 cases 12 days in a row, including 2,142 new positive tests on Saturday and 2,159 cases on Christmas Day.
During those days, Ontario reported 81 additional deaths.
The new measures mean restaurants in the province can only provide takeout and delivery.
