Subvariant BA.2 | Omicron’s “little brother” will be watched “closely”

Federal Public Health will “closely” monitor the evolution of the BA.2 sub-variant, the “little brother” of the original Omicron strain, responsible for more than 100 infections in Canada so far. In Quebec, five travelers who passed through Montreal tested positive for BA.2, which is already actively circulating in Europe.

Henri Ouellette-Vezina
The Press

“More than a hundred” cases of the new BA.2 strain of the Omicron variant have indeed been discovered in Canada, including 77 from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, the chief administrator of the Public Health Agency of Canada, D^D Theresa Tam, at a press conference providing an update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are still learning about this subvariant, but at this time international data suggests that there could potentially be an increase in spread. But there does not seem to be any specific increase in hospitalizations or severe complications, compared to BA.1. But we will be watching this very closely,” she said.

The acceleration of the propagation of the BA.2 sub-variant remains possible, chained the D^D Tam, recalling that some countries such as Denmark have seen a “sharp increase” in the number of cases linked to this subvariant.

His deputy, the D^r Howard Njoo, confirmed that as of January 26, the average of new cases in Canada over seven days was around 19,000, recalling however that this is an “underestimate”. The positivity rate has dropped to 19%, however, “which reassures us that individual efforts have helped to slow transmission,” he said. Currently, more than 10,800 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 across Canada, including more than 1,200 in intensive care. About 168 deaths are reported daily.

The BA.2 subvariant would have been detected for the first time in November in Canada, “which is one of the first countries to have detected this variant”, specified the D^D Tam.

An idea of ​​the portrait in Quebec

In Quebec, this new variant has so far “been detected by sequencing in five travelers who have passed through Montreal so far,” said the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) on Friday. “Our monitoring team is closely monitoring the international epidemiological situation. This has been a worrying variant since December 2021, in the same way as BA.1, ”said a spokesperson for the organization, Aurèle Iberto-Mazzali.

During her speech, the D^D Tam also expressed concern that there are “more children with COVID-19 requiring hospitalization than before.”

In Quebec, as in other provinces, the number of hospitalizations has indeed increased slightly among Quebec children since the return to class.

Quebec currently lists 11 hospitalizations per day among children under 10 years old. On average, one child needs to be admitted to intensive care every day due to COVID-19.

Moreover, the number of new cases has stopped falling in children since the start of the school year. Despite the limits imposed on screening, there have been an average of 240 new cases per day among children under 10 since the return to class. This is the only age group in which cases are no longer falling, but are on a plateau.

48 deaths, 62 fewer hospitalizations

The 48 new deaths reported Friday in Quebec bring the daily average to 59, a trend which is however down 18% over one week.

On Friday, there was a marked drop of 62 hospitalizations compared to the previous day, or 287 new admissions and 349 discharges. To date, 3091 patients are hospitalized in connection with the virus, of which 228 are in intensive care, a drop of 7 cases in 24 hours on this plan (23 entries, 30 exits).

This number of 3,091 people hospitalized represents a drop of 8% over one week. In intensive care, the drop is 14% over the same period.

In terms of vaccination, just over 75,700 additional doses were administered on Thursday, to which are added 3,271 vaccines given before January 27 which had not yet been counted. So far, 86% of the Quebec population has received at least one dose, 79.6% has received at least two doses and almost 41% has received three doses. Among 5-11 year olds, 61.7% of them received a first dose and 14.3% now have two doses.

With the collaboration of Pierre-André Normandin, The Press