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An asymptomatic traveller who arrived in Vancouver from London 12 days ago has been confirmed as the first carrier of the new, more infectious COVID variant here.
Henry said last Sunday that a passenger on an Air Canada Flight 855 arrived on Dec. 15 without symptoms and tested positive on Dec. 19. That person is self-isolating on Vancouver Island.
The more infectious COVID-19 variant has led to many countries restricting flights arriving from Britain.
Last weekend, Public Health Ontario reported Canada’s first mutant cases in a couple from the Durham region, east of Toronto, that had been in recent contact with someone who returned from the U.K.
There was also a new variant case reported in Ottawa the same weekend.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says the new variant may be more transmissible, but has not proven to be more dangerous or to impact vaccine effectiveness.
According to a study released Sunday by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the variant is 56 per cent more transmissible than other strains.
On Thursday, Henry said there are no plans to delay a return to school and said they have not seen a lot of spread of the new variant of the virus.
— With files from David Carrigg
ticrawford@postmedia.com
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