Durham region detects first confirmed case of Omicron variant

Durham Regional Health said it had confirmed a case of the Omicron variant from a close contact of a traveler returning from a country in southern Africa.

“The Department of Health is also monitoring other COVID-19 cases under investigation for the Omicron variant based on travel history and working with the province to monitor COVID-19 variants of interest including Delta and Omicron,” said the local public health unit.

It also said it would not release any further information about the confirmed incident.

Earlier this week, several other COVID-19 cases of the Omicron variant were detected, including several in the Ottawa and Hamilton areas.

The variant of concern was recently declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the fifth variant of concern since the pandemic began.

Health officials are still unclear if Omicron is more transmissible, but the WHO said it would have more data “within the next few days”.

The federal government recently imposed travel bans on several affected countries in southern Africa including Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe . Visitors from these areas are not allowed to enter Canada.

“While this new variant is no cause for alarm, it is important to remain vigilant and continue to follow public health measures that have been shown to be effective throughout the pandemic.” Dr Robert Kyle, Durham Regional Health Officer said.

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