Potential Omicron cases in city

Travellers from South Africa self-isolating, awaiting test results

Hamilton public health is investigating its first two suspected cases of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.

The city’s health unit said in a news release Monday the suspected cases are in a pair of residents who recently returned from a trip to South Africa and tested positive for coronavirus.

The possible cases of the variant are undergoing whole genome sequencing tests and will be confirmed in the coming days.

Public health said the suspected positive residents and their close contacts are self-isolating.

The news comes as the province prepares an “enhanced strategy” to combat the worrisome variant first identified in South Africa. Ontario’s chief medical officer of health announced the suspected Hamilton cases — along with another two in Ottawa — on Monday morning. The four potential cases are in addition to two identified in people who travelled from Nigeria to Montreal, were tested there, and continued on to Ottawa, Dr. Kieran Moore told a news conference.

Moore said there are 375 people who need to be tested for COVID-19 after travelling to Ontario in the last two weeks from seven southern African countries named in travel restrictions by the federal government Friday. Nigeria was not affected by the measures.

But how many of those people reside in Hamilton remains unclear. At a media briefing Monday afternoon, public health declined to disclose when the local suspected cases tested positive, at which airport they landed or how many close contacts they have, citing privacy concerns.

Hamilton’s international airport said in a statement it does not have any service to or from Africa, and its winter departures schedule only includes destinations in Florida, the Caribbean and Mexico.

Michelle Baird, the city’s director of epidemiology, wellness and communicable disease control, said the potential cases are being investigated only because of their travel in an area of concern, not because of other aggravating factors such as worse or unusual symptoms.

“There’s nothing out of the ordinary with these two cases, outside of the travel,” Baird told reporters.

“To date, these are the only two COVID-19 cases that we’re aware of in Hamilton that had travelled to any of the indicated areas.”

What is known about Omicron is limited.

It was first detected in South Africa on Nov. 9, but its precise origin is unclear. Early data suggests the variant is more transmissible than its counterparts Delta and Alpha, and could present a higher risk of reinfection among people who previously had COVID.

“We need further information on how well our vaccine works against this strain, we need further information on how well some of the … therapeutics would work against it,” said Moore. “We also need more information on the severity of this virus in terms of its ability to cause severe illness and hospitalization or intensive care unit requirements.”

Baird said Hamilton hospitals are well-equipped to cope with a surge in coronavirus patients, noting the city is seeing less than one infected person admitted per day.

As for whether a spike in Omicron will translate to tougher health restrictions, such as tightened capacity limits, Baird said it’s a wait-and-see game.

“We’ll wait and see what the science says with respect to this variant. The majority of cases in Hamilton, over 99 per cent, are all Delta, and these (health) measures work very well for that variant,” she said.

Public health is strongly advising residents who have been in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe within the past two weeks to immediately self-isolate and get tested for COVID.