Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
The Lambda variant detected in many South American countries has made its way into a handful of Canadian provinces. But experts say there’s no sign it causes more severe outcomes compared with other variants, and that our high vaccination rate should help prevent a rapid spread in this country.
Currently British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec have reported cases of the Lambda variant, also known as the C.37 lineage that is believed to have been first identified in Peru.
As a part of their variant surveillance program, Quebec screened and reported 27 cases of the Lambda variant between March 11 and May 5 of this year, the Quebec National Institute of Public Health told CTVNews.ca in a statement. Currently no additional updated information on Lambda variant cases in the province is available.
Last week, Alberta reported two cases of the Lambda variant, Ontario reported six, and British Columbia reported one, according to statements and epidemiological summaries that the provinces’ health departments provided to CTVNews.ca.
In other provinces and territories, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon have not identified any cases of the Lambda variant to date.
Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador do not have data available on the Lambda variant, and Nunavut and the Northwest Territories currently do not have any active COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, CTV News’ infectious disease specialist, said that although cases of the Lambda variant are emerging in Canada, there currently isn’t any evidence that it is more transmissible or will cause more severe illness.
“In order to be a variant of concern, you’ve got to show that there’s some evidence of an increased likelihood of spreading more easily or causing a disease that’s more severe, and we haven’t seen any of that,” Sharkawy said Monday on CTV’s Your Morning.
“It hasn’t really taken off anywhere, even in under-resourced parts of the world,” he said, noting that although there’s a higher presence of the Lambda variant in countries like Peru and Argentina, it is mostly overrepresented in those who are not vaccinated.
The Lambda variant accounts for 80 per cent of new COVID-19 infections in Peru. Although it’s not identified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), the organization designated it as a variant of interest (VOI) on June 14.
While scientists continue to study the Lambda variant, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist based at the Toronto General Hospital, pointed out that vaccines being used in Canada so far have been effective against any COVID-19 variants that have emerged.
“I think it’s also fair to say that we have some very good vaccines that we’re using in Canada and it’s also fair to say that there’s not yet a variant that has emerged where our vaccines have not proven to be effective,” Bogoch said on CTV’s Your Morning. “…We’ve got to watch this closely, but I think we’ll be OK.”
Bogoch also said that many cases and illnesses in highly vaccinated countries are predominantly in those who have not been vaccinated, so having a greater proportion of people vaccinated can keep case numbers low.
Kerry Bowman, bioethics and global health professor at the University of Toronto, added that while it’s still early to fully understand the severity of the Lambda variant, the more people that are fully vaccinated, the more prepared we’ll be to face any new variants.
“A lot of the variants – Delta, Lambda – they’re going to target in on unvaccinated people, so it doesn’t change the public health message that we need as many people fully vaccinated as possible, as quickly as possible,” Bowman told CTVNews.ca. “If there’s very few cases around because we’ve had such high vaccinations, we’re in a way better position to deal with these variants that may start emerging and coming at us.”
But, in order to minimize the spread and emergence of these new variants, Bowman said that we have to start looking at vaccination efforts beyond Canada.
“When we look at the big picture of this pandemic, as our vaccinations rise in this country we really, really have to start thinking about the rest of the world from a virus and epidemiological point of view and from an ethical point of view,” said Bowman. “Many places in this world [have] very low vaccination rates…these variants are going to keep coming at us. I would argue that we have an obligation to help other people in this pandemic.”
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.