Public Health Investigating Cases of New Omicron COVID-19 Mutants Possible in Hamilton

Two suspected cases of the new Omicron Hamilton region COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection) Variants are being investigated by local and state public health agencies, according to Ontario’s top documentation.

At a press conference early Monday morning, Medical Officer Kieran Moore revealed that he had investigated the possibility of four outbreaks, including two in Ottawa.

The two Hamilton residents under investigation have recently returned from South Africa and are COVID-19 positive, awaiting the results of genomic sequencing associated with the Omicron mutant.

“Hamilton Public Health Services manages incidents and contacts, and two individuals and their incident contacts are self-isolated,” the city said in a statement Monday afternoon.

City health officials say that anyone who has been vaccinated but has traveled to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesoto, Mozambique, Namibia Nigeria, South Africa or Zimbabwe within 14 days of arriving in Hamilton will be quarantined. I’m urging you.

We also encourage travelers to have a COVID-19 test at a local evaluation center, regardless of whether they have symptoms.

Two cases of Ottawa were associated with people who recently stayed in Nigeria and were first tested for the virus in Montreal when they arrived in Canada.

“Their local public health agencies … have been notified by the Public Health Agency of Canada … and are actively managing cases and contacts,” Moore said.

He went on to say that the local public health sector is reaching out to 375 people returning from the country providing the test, which the federal government considers to be at high risk for the new variant.

When international flights return to Hamilton this week, Moore admits that the situation is currently “fluid” after the Ministry of Transport lifts passenger travel from John C. Manlo Airport, and public health is a test strategy. He said he would reach out to the federal government.

“We certainly contacted them throughout the weekend and talked about testing strategies for all travelers returning to Canada,” Moore said.

“We will further review our short-term testing strategy and move within 72 hours.”

The state is expected to provide tests to all returnees, not just those from seven designated countries in southern Africa.

Moore told Ontarian “calm down” and said there were no changes to the limits at this time.

If Omicron is “less lethal,” he said, it would have less impact on the state’s health system.

“I don’t have a perfect crystal ball, but as a state, it will be clearer in the coming weeks how we must respond to this new threat,” Moore said.

1:57
Ontario reports two confirmed cases of Omicron mutants

Previous video


Next video

The state may announce later this week on vaccination and a third dose increase.

He said the “accelerated third dose strategy” would be part of a new measure that the state could introduce as a way to combat new varieties.

Dr. Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, said the concern about the new version of the COVID-19 virus is that it “successfully” competes with current variants through mutations with peplomer proteins. It states.

“The problem with spike mutations is that the vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize spikes, and too many mutations make it difficult to do so,” Furnes said. 900CHML Good morning Hamilton..

“The Pfizer vaccine was originally 95% effective against COVID, but you may remember that it dropped to 88% by the time it reached the Delta, so it could drop a little more.”

Researchers have completed a laboratory study to test how effective current vaccines are against Omicron, the next step for health communities around the world, and how widespread it is in the community. Is to measure.

“Using the variants we’ve seen so far, we know what the pattern looks like. They start small and suddenly they dominate,” Furnes said.

“So you have to wait for this to happen before you pay attention to the symptoms.”

Hamilton Public Health reported 57 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, with active cases decreasing from Friday.

The city’s 7-day average case rate has dropped slightly over the past few days, checking in on Monday 21 compared to Friday’s average of 22 per day.

So far, the city’s average case rate during November was 20 per day, slightly lower than the 22 cases per day reported in October.

The number of active cases decreased to 158 as of November 29, and decreased from 169 reported on Friday to 11.

Over 72% of all active cases are under the age of 50 and 39% are under the age of 30.

The city’s positive rate (representing the number of tests that returned positive from the laboratory) remains at 2.4%, lower than the state average of 3.5% reported on Monday.

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Hamilton has reported 25,766 COVID cases.

As of November 29, a total of 39 outbreaks have been reported throughout the city. The largest outbreak is at St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School, with one staff and 13 students, for a total of 14 cases.

As of Monday, there are 6 ongoing school outbreaks associated with a total of 25 cases.

Over the last 14 days, a total of 66 cases have been reported by both public committees, 50 of which were students.

Hamilton Hospital has reported a total of 14 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, 9 at Hamilton Health Sciences and 5 at St. Joe’s.

Currently, the city has an average of less than one new hospitalization per day.

Over the weekend, Hamilton’s health partners received more than 6,130 vaccines, and Friday recorded a weekly maximum intake of 2,813 shots.

With COVID-19 vaccine will be available for children ages 5-11In the city, the dose increased by 56.7% weekly.

In the last seven days, the city has weaponized 12,500 shots, close to 4,500, between November 15th and November 21st.

The average number of shots per day in November also increased, moving from 1,057 on Friday to 1,239 on Sunday.

This is above the daily average recorded in October – 1,068 per day.

As of Sunday, 83.3% of eligible Hamiltonians over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated and 86.7% have been vaccinated at least once. The city is still below the state average, with 86.3% being fully vaccinated and 89.7% being vaccinated at least once.

Residents aged 70-84 reached 90% of the Ministry of Health’s target of first and second dose ranges. Hamiltonians, aged 25-29, on the other hand, have the lowest vaccination rates of eligible people in the community, with just over 73% fully vaccinated.

Hamilton lags behind the other 31 public health departments in the rate of double doses in Ontario.

See link »