The COVID-19 India variant has made it to York Region.
During the region’s special council meeting today, York Region medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji revealed that the public health unit had received word on Friday that two cases of the B.1.617 "double mutant” India variant have been identified here.
“Our investigators found that one had travelled from China and one had travelled from Taiwan,” said Kurji, adding that they have low incidence levels.
“They were negative before they came here and had testing done in those countries,” he said. “They were also found to be negative on arrival.”
One of the positive cases had been quarantining in a hotel. In the other case, the individual had moved from isolating for three days in a hotel to self-isolating at home.
“We believe they followed protocol perfectly, but 10 days later, they both tested positive,” said Kurji.
Kurji said both cases believe they acquired the variant from the hotels in which they had quarantined after returning to Canada, however, he said there has been no confirmation from public health that that is the case.
He said there is currently an investigation taking place between the federal minister of health, Public Health Ontario, York Region and Peel Region into the matter.
“I think this speaks to the high standards of our case contact investigators have been adopting,” said Kurji. “This is why we have always favoured targeted interventions.”
UPDATE: York Region Public Health has confirmed the two B.1.617 variant cases are from Markham and Vaughan.
York Region Public Health’s case and contact management team is also currently investigating a report of a recent traveller from India who has tested positive; variant screening results are pending.