The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has confirmed its first case of a COVID-19 Variant of Concern (VOC).
Following a positive result of COVID-19, with exposure associated with recent international travel, further testing for variants was requested. The individual is currently self-isolating.
Preliminary results of the testing showed the presence of a VOC, however, further testing is required to identify the strain of this variant.
“The preliminary results of COVID-19 Variant of Concern confirms the need for everyone to remain cautious and assume everyone outside your home has COVID-19,” says Dr. Jim Chirico, Medical Officer of Health. “Our district has been doing great with keeping the number of individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 low, but, as we've seen with the outbreaks in long-term care homes, associated to COVID-19 Variants of Concern in southern Ontario, the variants can be devastating. We must not let our guard down and we need to continue to follow public health guidelines.”
Chirico did not specify if the VOC is in Nipissing or Parry Sound.
The province of Ontario is currently facing a surge of variant cases, particularly the COVID-19 variant first detected in the UK says a Health Unit news release.
"This variant has proven to be easily transmissible, and we have seen this with long-term care homes in districts as close as the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit."
A Sudburian with a history of international travel was suspected of having a case of a more highly transmissible strain of COVID-19 last week.
The health unit was notified on Jan. 24 that lab tests by Public Health Ontario revealed a possible case of the new, more highly transmissible strain, referred to as variants of concern.
Variant of concern
- The province has reported 152 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7).
- The province has reported one case of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant.
- According to Public Health Ontario, there are delays between specimen collection and the testing required to confirm a variant of concern. As such, the reports can change and can differ from past case counts publicly reported.
Public Health Ontario has confirmed 273,660 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and reported 250,937 recoveries and 6,393 deaths, of which 3,683 were individuals living in long-term care homes.
The cumulative average incidence rate in the province is 1,841 cases per 100,000 people in Ontario.
The weekly incidence rate in Ontario is 83.5 cases per 100,000 people from Jan. 25 to Jan. 31, which is a decrease of 19.1 per cent compared to Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 when the average weekly incidence rate was 103.2 cases per 100,000 people.
