A new COVID-19 variant of concern has appeared in Saskatchewan.
“Now in the southwest part of the province, we have a cluster of five variants of concern of the P.1 variety that was first identified in Brazil,” said Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, in a media conference April 20.
“This has been seen throughout Canada and all over Western Canada, but this is the first time we have identified it in Saskatchewan.”
Shahab said scientists are still learning about the variant, working to determine if it’s more infectious and more severe, as well as determining how effective vaccines are at countering it.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said on its website that P.1 may be able to re-infect people who have had COVID-19 and that some current treatments and vaccines may not work as well.
Shahab said being able to detect the variant in Saskatchewan speaks to people doing the right thing and getting tested as soon as they have symptoms after any interprovincial and international travel.
“It just speaks to how important it is for us to continue to follow all public health measures as well as public health recommendations for isolation,” he said.
Ryan Meili, the Saskatchewan New Democrats’ leader, said in an April 21 statement he’s concerned about the potential for the variant to overwhelm the healthcare system.
“Vaccines are absolutely crucial to beating COVID-19, but they are not the only measure we need, especially with vaccine supply in question,” said Meili. “The Premier owes the people of Saskatchewan a full accounting of how the province plans to address a potential new spike in variant cases, including releasing all modelling and advice from the SHA experts.”
There are three variants of concern detected in Saskatchewan. B.1.1.7, the U.K. variant, has the most cases, with 2,046 being detected as of April 21.
There have been nine cases of B.1.351, the South Africa variant, all concentrated in the North Central zone. Shahab said that case management and contact tracing by the Saskatchewan Health Authority has seemed to contain that variant’s spread.
