The South African variant of concern has been confirmed in the Timiskaming Health Unit area.
The case was announced in the region Feb. 6.
The person was exposed to an outbreak in another region, "where many cases have screened positive for a variant of concern," according to the health unit.
“The confirmation that one of the new COVID-19 variants of concern has been identified in our district is a reminder that we are all vulnerable. It is good news that there has not been any evidence of local spread of this VOC,” said Dr. Glenn Corneil, acting medical officer of health and CEO, in a news release.
“Because variants are more infectious, they can quickly result in more cases, which means that more people could become seriously ill or lose their lives. The best way to prevent the transmission of any new variant of COVID-19 is to closely follow the public health measures that have proven to be effective. We urge every resident across the district to act as though exposure is both possible and probable every day, and in every community, regardless of our local case numbers.”
Early in February, the province started screening positive COVID-19 tests for variants of concern. Tests flagged during that screening process are sent for further testing to determine if it's a variant of concern, and if so, what variant it is.
There are three variants of concern confirmed in Ontario.
As of this morning, the province had reported 535 lab-confirmed cases of the UK variant strain of COVID-19 (B.1.1.7), 27 cases of B.1.351 (also known as the South African variant), and three cases of P.1, which is the variant strain that originated in Brazil.
In North Bay, there are 14 confirmed cases of the South African (B.1.351) variant of concern.
Two cases in Timmins have also screened positive for a variant of concern.
The Porcupine Health Unit expects they will be confirmed as variants because the people were exposed to an outbreak out of region. The test results are not known yet.
Public Health Sudbury and Districts has also had three confirmed variants of concern. All of those are the UK variant.
