B.C. watching for cases of new COVID-19 variant

British Columbia is ending the work week with 341 new COVID-19 cases with 77 in Interior Health.

There has also been six more deaths, with none of those in the Interior.

Meantime, Canada is closing its border to visitors from southern Africa after a concerning new COVID-19 variant was found there.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, support the measures taken today by the federal government in response to the newly identified variant of concern (VOC), called Omicron.

“We do not yet know the impact this new VOC will have on transmission or of severity of illness, but taking this immediate precautionary action is prudent. We will continue to closely monitor developments around the world,” Dix and Henry said in a statement.

Henry said there is no evidence that the variant has been introduced into British Columbia, and there are no known cases in Canada as w yet.

The health officer said so far, all of the Health Canada-approved vaccines are highly effective and provide strong protection against all variants.

“We will monitor the data on this new VOC to ensure that will continue to be the case. Reducing transmission and having high levels of protection through vaccination continues to be our best defence against all variants of COVID-19,” Henry remarked.

As of today, 91 per cent of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 87.6 per cent have had two doses.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. The outbreaks at Queens Park Care Centre and Dufferin Care Centre have been declared over, for a total of eight facilities with ongoing outbreaks.