Novel coronavirus variants of concern could be much wider spread in Ottawa than provincial COVID-19 data shows, according to the city’s medical officer of health.
Dr. Vera Etches said in a press conference on Wednesday that while the number of COVID-19 variant cases confirmed via genetic sequencing in Ottawa remains at 10, screening for these mutated strains has shown 73 additional cases that are “likely” to be confirmed as one of the variants of concern.
This would bring the total number of COVID-19 variant cases in the nation’s capital to 83.
Ontario’s latest epidemiological update on Wednesday shows only nine coronavirus cases in Ottawa have so far been confirmed as variants of concern, with eight of those tagged at the B.1.1.7. strain first identified in the United Kingdom.
Etches said that 70 per cent of the potential variant cases can be traced to transmission via travel, close contact with a traveller or a household contact with COVID-19.
But that leaves a gap of 30 per cent of cases that have no known origin, suggesting these probable variants are being spread through community transmission in Ottawa.
Etches expressed her concern that, even aside from the more transmissible COVID-19 variants, levels of the virus are on the rise in Ottawa, threatening to push the city into the red zone on Ontario’s colour-coded reopening framework.
Ottawa Public Health reported 46 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with the city’s coronavirus positivity rate jumping back up to 2.1 per cent in the most recent period.
While active cases in Ottawa dropped back below 500 as of Wednesday, Etches pointed to rising viral signal in the city’s wastewater tracking data and a growing number of COVID-19 hospitalizations are clear signs of increased spread.
There are now 30 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ottawa, six of whom are in the intensive care unit.
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