New variants of the COVID-19 virus have been identified throughout the world and public health officials in this province say it’s only a matter of time before one is confirmed here.
Dr. Lisa Barrett, a Newfoundlander who is an assistant professor in the departments of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie University in Halifax says COVID-19 is a virus that changes as it makes copies of itself, even within one person.
Sometimes those mistakes may change it enough to create a new variant, and if it changes even more it can become its own strain.
That can become a concern depending on the impact of that variant or strain.
Dr. Barrett says if those changes mean the virus causes more severe disease or is spread more easily, or becomes more resistant to vaccines, then that causes greater concern.
Meanwhile, Public Health officials say the key is to prevent the variants from spreading.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says in areas where new variants have been discovered, they quickly become the dominant strain. She says it is important to catch the new variants as early as possible so that they do not spread.
Testing swabs are now undergoing whole-genome sequencing to identify any new variants.
She says provinces across the country including some in Atlantic Canada are reporting COVID-19 variants of concern. Some variants allow the virus to spread from person to person much easier and faster than the original strain.