Officials in the Canadian province of Ontario said Saturday they had detected two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus strain that first appeared in the United Kingdom (UK).
Seconds Reuters, officials identified the new variant in a Southern Ontario couple with no known history of travel, exposure or high-risk contact.
The report comes when the province instituted a new blockade, with 4,301 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the past two days and more than 2,000 infections a day for 12 consecutive days.
“This further reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay home as long as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including province-wide shutdown measures starting today,” the statement said on Saturday. Dr. Barbara Yaffe, chief associate physician of Ontario, Reuters reported.
Although experts are still studying the origins and transmission of the new strain, scientists believe the variant is transmissible between 40 and 70 percent more than the original.
A study published this week per the Center for Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine placed the rate at 56 per cent more contagious.
Canada last week extended the ban on UK passenger flights until January 6 and extended control and control measures from South Africa due to the rise in the new strain.
It is unclear whether the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and approved by Canada and other countries earlier this month is effective in preventing this variant.
Modern he said in a statement Wednesday that his vaccine will likely be able to protect people from the new strain, adding that he planned to test to confirm the vaccine’s effectiveness.
Wednesday in Canada authorized use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for widespread use, paving the way for the distribution of the second vaccine throughout the country.
The vaccine is indicated for use in people 18 years of age or older. Modern is conducting additional studies in children from the age of 12, so the guidelines could be revised in the future.
As of Saturday, Canada had nearly 541,000 cases of COVID-19, with more than 14,700 deaths from the virus, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Several other countries, including Australia, Italy and the Netherlands have also reported cases of the new infectious strain.