According to Health officials in Canada, the Country has detected its first coronavirus infection from the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant of Omicron in a person in British Columbia who had not traveled outside the Pacific province.
In a joint statement, Pacific Province top doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said the individual is not hospitalized, and detecting the BA.2.86 virus has not changed the risk to people in British Columbia.
"It was not unexpected for BA.2.86 to show up in Canada and the province," they said. "COVID-19 continues to spread globally, and the virus continues to adapt."
Compared to XBB.1.5, which is expected to be the predominant variant through most of 2023, the BA.2.86 lineage, originally discovered in Denmark last month, carries more than 35 alterations in significant viral regions.
Additionally, cases of the novel variety have been reported from Switzerland, Israel, and the United States.
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The BA.2.86 variant may be more infectious in people who have had COVID-19 or have had prophylactic vaccinations, according to a statement made last week by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to scientists, a disastrous wave of severe illness and fatalities was unlikely to be brought on by BA.2.86, given the global immune systems that have been strengthened by vaccination and earlier infections.
Canadian health authorities have noted an uptick in COVID infections in recent weeks, though virus activity remains relatively low, Health Canada said in a weekly update earlier on Tuesday.
