By: Thomas I. Likness
EBC News Service
(Eagle News) — The first case of the so-called double mutation variant of the Covid-19 virus spotted in India has been identified in the provinces of Quebec and British Columbia, health authorities said.
Quebec is reporting one case and another 39 cases have been occurred in BC.
The virus has two different mutations of the original Covis-19 virus. These mutations have occurred separately, but the B.1.617 variant contains both of them.
At present, this version of the virus is not on the list of variants of concern in either province. But health officials are monitoring its spread.
“It is one of the ones we’ve been following,” BC Chief Medical officer of Health Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday. “Internationally and nationally this is not yet identified as a variant of concern. It is now in Canada a variant of interest and that’s why we are looking at it a little more closely.”
According to Infection Prevention and Control Canada, a new version of a virus is termed a variant of concern when it has been determined it can spread more rapidly, cause more severe symptoms, and may be resistant to immunity from vaccines or previous infection.
In India, the B.1.167 variant accounts for more than half of the new reported cases of Covid-19.
(Eagle News Service)
