More than 100 BA.2 COVID-19 cases in Canada, Tam says research ongoing
Posted Jan 28, 2022 11:33 am.
Last Updated Jan 28, 2022 12:34 pm.
The newest sub-variant of COVID-19 has already infected more than 100 Canadians, according to the country’s chief public health office.
Dr. Theresa Tam says labs started to detect BA.2 last November.
“We have at least over a hundred identifications, 77 of them from the National Microbiology lab, and some further reporting from some provinces and territories as well,” Tam said Friday.
B.C. confirmed 66 cases of BA.2 were reported in the province as of Jan. 21, with 33 of them being related to international travel surveillance.
Tam says they’re still learning about this sub-variant of Omicron and research is ongoing.
“At the moment, the international data suggest that it could potentially have an increase advantage on spread. It doesn’t seem to be any specific increase on hospitalizations, or severe outcomes compared to BA.1.”
Related Articles:
-
Canadian researchers tracking potentially more transmissible Omicron subvariant
-
B.C. records 21 COVID deaths, one of deadliest days in pandemic
-
Some teens at high risk of severe COVID illness should get 4th shot: NACI
Tam says hospitalizations and deaths from Omicron are still high. The number of daily deaths averaged 168 in the last week.
She says that’s the highest it has been since the early days of the pandemic in April and May 2020.
An average of 10,800 people were in hospital with COVID-19 over the last seven days, up from 10,041 the previous week.
These numbers blow away the pre-Omicron hospitalization record of about 5,000 in mid-January 2021.
Meanwhile, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is now recommending teenagers with underlying conditions or at high risk of COVID-19 exposure get a booster shot.
She says it’s too early to decide if COVID-19 is shifting into endemic status — where it would be considered a virus that is constantly present in an area, usually with mostly mild impacts, such as flu.
But Tam says she is cautiously optimistic we’re getting close to that point.
