B.C. confirms 1st case of Omicron COVID-19 variant
One case of the concerning Omicron COVID-19 variant has been confirmed in British Columbia, health officials announced Tuesday.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the infected individual lives in the Fraser Health region, which spans from Burnaby to Boston Bar, and recently returned from Nigeria.
That individual is isolating while public health follows up with all of their close contacts.
So far, 204 people across the province have been identified as having recently travelled to Omicron-affected countries. Each one has been contacted over recent days, sent for PCR testing and told to isolate.
Henry said B.C.'s first Omicron case was identified thanks to the province's "robust" program of whole genome sequencing, which is performed on every COVID-19 infection associated with a recent traveller as well as a proportion of all new cases.
"We can be confident that we're not seeing widespread transmission of this variant in B.C. yet," Henry added.
Omicron has sent countries around the world scrambling to impose new travel restrictions and other measures to limit the spread as researcher work to determine how its numerous mutations impact transmissibility, severity of illness, and possible vaccine resistance.
"There is still a lot we do not yet know about the Omicron variant and it will take some weeks for us to get sufficient data for us to understand," Henry said.
The provincial health officer noted there is already some suggestion the mutations make Omicron more transmissible, but whether it will outperform the Delta variants AY.25, AY.27 and AY.4.2 remains unclear.
A handful of Omicron cases have been detected in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta in recent days, and the country has already banned entry to foreign national who have recently travelled to Nigeria, Malawi, Egypt, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini.
Canadians returning from an affected country will be required to quarantine for two weeks.
The federal government has also imposed new testing requirements on all arriving air travellers coming from anywhere except the U.S., including those who are fully vaccinated.
The variant has been linked to a rapid rise in cases in South Africa, where vaccination rates are comparably low.
"This new variant of concern reminds us that we are in a global storm, and that it is not equal everywhere around the world," Henry said, adding that "equal access to vaccination is something that's going to be important for us to get through this."
The emergence of the new variant has added urgency to B.C. health officials' immunization campaign, which saw the first doses administered to children between the ages of five and 11 on Monday.
"While vaccination doesn't prevent 100 per cent of infections, we have seen how important it is in protecting people from more severe illness, particularly with the Delta variant," Henry said.
Unvaccinated children under the age of 12 have made up about 20 per cent of B.C.'s recent COVID-19 cases, despite representing approximately 10 per cent of the population.
There are about 350,000 B.C. children between the ages of five and 11. More than 108,000 were registered for vaccination by Monday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Health.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Live updates: What star witness in Trump hush money case has said on the stand so far
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
When you have a moment's notice to evacuate, what do you take?
Knowing what to have at home, or take with you for an evacuation, can be useful and even life-saving.
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.’s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease’s progression.
Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5,000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid
A Vancouver Canucks defenceman has been suspended for a game and another was handed a hefty fine after a scrum broke out at the end of Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night.
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sues for defamation over National Enquirer, InTouch Weekly stories
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sued the parent company of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly on Monday for a story that she said falsely claimed that she was trying to help the Menendez brothers get a retrial after they were convicted of murdering their parents.
Wildfire smoke drifts across Canada, over parts of U.S., prompting air quality advisories
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
'A great victory for the industry': Taxi drivers celebrate ruling that found City of Ottawa negligent in allowing Uber to operate
An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that the City of Ottawa was negligent in its enforcement of the city's taxi bylaw when it allowed Uber to begin operating in 2014, harming the city's established taxi industry.