'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
A new Delta subvariant COVID-19 strain has been designated a "Variant Under Investigation" by the U.K., saying early evidence suggests it may be more transmissible compared to Delta.
The strain does not appear to result in more severe disease or render vaccines less effective, the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in an announcement published Friday. It was also given the official name of "VUI-21OCT-01."
The subvariant, which had previously been dubbed "Delta Plus" or "AY.4.2," was first detected in England back in July. Data from the UKHSA shows an estimated 6 per cent of recent COVID-19 cases in the U.K., where case numbers have been surging, are of this Delta subvariant.
"Viruses mutate often and at random, and it is not unexpected that new variants will continue to arise as the pandemic goes on, particularly while the case rate remains high," UKHSA chief executive Dr. Jenny Harries said. "It should serve as objective evidence that this pandemic is not over."
More investigation is needed to confirm if the strain, which has also been detected in Canada and the U.S., is indeed more contagious than the Delta variant, the UKHSA says.
"As AY.4.2 is still at fairly low frequency, a 10 per cent increase in its transmissibility could have caused only a small number of additional cases," Francois Balloux, director of the genetics institute at University College London, told the Science Media Centre on Tuesday. "As such it hasn't been driving the recent increase in case numbers in the U.K."
If the subvariant is in fact more transmissible, Balloux said the difference would not be the same as the one brought on by the Delta variant, which was far more contagious than any strain in circulation at the time.
"We are dealing with a potential small increase in transmissibility that would not have a comparable impact on the pandemic," he said.
A small number of cases of the new strain have popped up in Canada, but it's unclear if it's more contagious than the Delta variant, according to Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan.
Dr. Rasmussen said the U.K.'s robust genomic surveillance, which sequences about 10 per cent of the positive COVID-19 cases they have, may be a reason why they have detected more cases.
"In many places, we still don't have the surveillance capacity to find these variants if they emerge," she told CTV News Channel on Wednesday. "They also might not be emerging. We haven't really seen anything that indicates that this is becoming prevalent in Canada."
Dr. Rasmussen also believes it's likely the vaccines currently deployed in Canada will be effective against the subvariant.
"The vaccines that we currently have are quite effective against original recipe Delta," she said. "Of course, we should wait and see, we should take a look at it, but there's really nothing that stands out to me as a concern as far as vaccine effectiveness against this particular sublineage."
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.