KFL&A Public Health is reporting a fifth COVID-19 variant of concern in the region.
In an interview with reporters Thursday, Dr. Kieran Moore said none of the variants in the region have posed a risk to the community, since all those affected were in quarantine before they were tested for the virus.
Most of the variant cases were caught following travel outside the region, he said, including to Ottawa and to the Greater Toronto Area.
The medical officer of health also noted than none of the variants are linked to a recent COVID-19 outbreak at Tiny Hoppers, a daycare facility in the city’s west end.
Moore said a child tested positive for COVID-19 on March 1, but had no other links of transmission to the virus. KFL&A’s contact tracing team then went to the child’s daycare facility and asked everyone associated, including the 56 children who frequent to centre, to be tested.
So far, seven staff members and two clients have tested positive for the virus. Moore said only a couple of samples from the daycare outbreak have been tested for variants of concern, but none have come up positive, which would indicate that the others are the common strain of COVID-19 as well.
All those associated with the outbreak are quarantining and will be tested again midway through the 14-day period, Moore says.
On Thursday, the health unit reported a total of four new cases in the region, two recoveries, and 19 active cases.
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