B.C., Alberta identify first COVID-19 Omicron cases, 7 confirmed in Canada

British Columbia and Alberta have reported their first cases of the Omicron variant.

B.C.’s top doctor Bonnie Henry says the new variant is a good reminder for residents to get vaccinated, and that it’s important for the global community to work toward equal access to vaccines.

“This new variant of concern reminds us that we are in a global storm,” said Henry. “It is not equal everywhere around the world.”

The 204 people who recently returned to B.C. from areas where the variant is present are now in quarantine.

Canada logged three more cases of the on variant Monday and was investigating other potential infections as hundreds of people who recently travelled back from countries deemed high-risk for the new strain were encouraged to get tested.

Quebec confirmed its first Omicron case and Ottawa Public Health confirmed two more late Monday. Those were in addition to the country’s first two infections that were recorded in Ottawa over the weekend.

Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, said all four of Ottawa’s cases are unrelated, in people who had independently travelled to Nigeria.

All four are currently self-isolating and Etches says they are not aware of any other possible cases in Ottawa at this time.

Two additional cases were also being investigated in Hamilton. The potential cases in that region were flagged for further genome sequencing because of the residents’ recent travel to South Africa, but did not provide more information about when they travelled or were tested.

Ontario’s top doctor warned that additional infections would likely be detected and the province said it was considering speeding up COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Dr. Moore said genomic sequencing is being conducted on 100 per cent of positive samples. He said they are also currently reviewing any measures that the province may have to take if they start staying daily increasing cases and a slight uptake in the number of cases in the ICU.

The rollout of booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine are also being reviewed in light of the new variant. “You can anticipate potential acceleration of our third dose strategy,” said Dr. Moore.

RELATED: WHO criticizes travel bans on southern African countries over omicron variant

The omicron variant was first detected in South Africa and has been linked to a spike in cases there. From just over 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa saw the number of new daily cases rocket to more than 3,200 Saturday, most in Gauteng.

After convening a group of experts to assess the data, the WHO said that “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant,” as compared to other variants. That means people who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could be subject to catching it again.

The federal government on Friday barred visitors from seven southern African countries in an effort to prevent the variant from crossing into Canada, but Nigeria was not among them.

The list of countries could be updated as the province learns more about the variant. Asymptomatic family members and other household contacts of travelers are also eligible for testing.

There have been 375 people who have returned from those seven countries to Ontario in the last two weeks, according to Dr. Moore.

The province has called on Ottawa to implement point-of-arrival COVID-19 testing for everyone entering Canada regardless of where they came from, instead of just requiring them to get tested before leaving for Canada.

Dr. Moore reiterated this during his press conference, saying he would like to see all returning travellers get tested.

“I think we’re learning from the epidemiology of this that this virus has been present on the globe for probably many, many weeks, if not months, and it has spread to multiple locations around the globe as we’re learning every minute of every hour.”

Dr. Moore said there are still a lot of questions surrounding the variant, including how effective the vaccine is against it and whether it causes a more severe illness.

He added the province is also in active conversation to review the Merck and Pfizer anti-viral pills with the federal government.

“We’re anticipating somewhere in the first quarter to have some of these tools available … so that alone should protect those individuals and minimize the health system impact. ”

Dr. Moore also said getting vaccinated is still one of the best ways to protect yourself from the virus. He noted 6.4 per cent of children aged 5-11 have already received their first dose.

He said he wants to assure residents the province is ready to respond in any way possible to the new variant.

“I think all Ontarians should be assured we’ve got good testing, surveillance, whole genome sequencing capacity and because of that, we will continue to find cases and further protect Ontarians through local public health agencies doing that great day to day work of case and content management.”

Quebec’s health minister Christian Dube said 115 recent travellers, most returning from southern Africa, have been asked to take a PCR test and isolate.

Public health director Horacio Arruda said Quebec’s case also involved a person who had travelled from Nigeria, but he would not confirm whether it was linked to the Ontario cases.