The Northwest Territories says two recently announced infections have been identified as the COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
The cases include an out-of-territory worker at the Diavik Diamond Mine, 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, and a N.W.T. resident in Yellowknife.
Last week, the territory identified its first variant case, another out-of-territory worker at the same mine, as the variant first identified in the U.K. Because the two workers are from outside the N.W.T., they are not counted in the territory’s COVID-19 database.
The territory’s chief public health officer, Dr. Kami Kandola, said the infected people and contacts are doing well, and there is no risk to the public at this time.
She said the Yellowknife case is related to international travel, but “was not communicable during air travel” and the person was tested upon returning to Canada.
Kandola also said her office is working with the Diavik mine to safely return local and out-of-territory workers home, and all workers on site will be tested.
COVID-19 is caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2, and as it spread around the world, it mutated into new forms that are more quickly and easily transmitted through small water droplets in the air. Canadian health officials are most worried about variants that can slip past human immune systems because of a different shape in the spiky protein that latches onto our cells. The bigger fear is that future mutations could be vaccine-resistant, which would make it necessary to tweak existing drugs or develop a new “multivalent” vaccine that works against many types, which could take months or years.
Not all variants are considered equal threats: Only those proven to be more contagious or resistant to physical-distancing measures are considered by the World Health Organization to be “variants of concern.” Five of these been found in Canada so far. The WHO refers to them by a sequence of letters and numbers known as Pango nomenclature, but in May of 2021, it also assigned them Greek letters that experts felt would be easier to remember.
ALPHA (B.1.1.7)
- Country of origin: Britain
- Traits: Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are still mostly effective against it, studies suggest, but for full protection, the booster is essential: With only a first dose, the effectiveness is only about 66 per cent.
- Spread in Canada: First detected in Ontario’s Durham Region in December. It is now Canada’s most common variant type. Every province has had at least one case; Ontario, Quebec and the western provinces have had thousands.
BETA (B.1.351)
- Country of origin: South Africa
- Traits: Some vaccines (including Pfizer’s and Oxford-AstraZeneca’s) appear to be less effective but researchers are still trying to learn more and make sure future versions of their drugs can be modified to fight it.
- Spread in Canada: First case recorded in Mississauga in February. All but a few provinces have had at least one case, but nowhere near as many as B.1.1.7.
GAMMA (P.1)
- Country of origin: Brazil
- Traits: Potentially able to reinfect people who’ve recovered from COVID-19.
- Spread in Canada: B.C. has had hundreds of cases, the largest known concentration of P.1 outside Brazil. More outbreaks have been detected in Ontario and the Prairies.
DELTA (B.1.617 AND B.1.617.2)
- Country of origin: India
- Traits: Spreads more easily. Single-dosed people are less protected against it than those with both vaccine doses.
- Spread in Canada: All but a few provinces have recorded cases, but B.C.’s total has been the largest so far.
LAMBDA (C.37)
- Country of origin: Peru
- Traits: Spreads more easily. Health officials had been monitoring it since last August, but the WHO only designated it a variant of concern in June of 2021.
- Spread in Canada: A handful of travel-related cases were first detected in early July.
If I’m sick, how do I know whether I have a variant?
Health officials need to genetically sequence test samples to see whether it’s the regular virus or a variant, and not everyone’s sample will get screened. It’s safe to assume that, whatever the official variant tallies are in your province, the real numbers are higher. But for your purposes, it doesn’t matter whether you contract a variant or not: Act as though you’re highly contagious, and that you have been since before your symptoms appeared (remember, COVID-19 can be spread asymptomatically). Self-isolate for two weeks. If you have the COVID Alert app, use it to report your test result so others who may have been exposed to you will know to take precautions.
Need more answers? Email audience@globeandmail.com
Workers at the mine have also been offered the COVID-19 vaccine, and over 200 of them have been vaccinated.
Kandola said her office anticipated it would see variants enter the N.W.T. at some point during the pandemic and it’s prepared to handle them.
“These new variants are highly infectious and extremely dangerous,” Kandola said. “Widespread infection would be devastating to our health-care system and communities here in the Northwest Territories.”
Kandola also noted there “is excellent data” that shows the Moderna vaccine, the only vaccine available in the N.W.T., is effective against the U.K. variant.
To date, 24,103 people in the N.W.T. have received one dose of vaccine and 16, 259 have received the full two doses.
The N.W.T. sends a sample of the virus detected in all those diagnosed with COVID-19 to southern lab partners to test for variants of concern.
Editor’s note: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the variant cases were the first in the territory.
Health columnist André Picard answers reader questions about COVID-19 variants, how effective the various vaccines are and the impact of on-again, off-again lockdowns.
The Globe and Mail
Sign up for the Coronavirus Update newsletter to read the day’s essential coronavirus news, features and explainers written by Globe reporters and editors.