First cases of fast-spreading P.1 variant reported
Strain identified in Brazil confirmed in two residents as Hamilton records more than 200 new coronavirus cases
Hamilton has reported its first cases of a worrisome COVID-19 variant first identified in Brazil.
The variant known as P.1, considered more spreadable and possibly more dangerous to younger people, was confirmed in two Hamilton residents Wednesday.
It is the first time the concerning coronavirus mutation has been confirmed in the city.
Public health said it cannot comment on individual cases and declined to disclose whether the variants were acquired within the community or through travel.
“We are very concerned about the growing number of COVID-19 cases and variant-related cases as we know that at least some of the variants spread more easily and are connected to more severe disease,” said Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton’s medical officer of health, in an emailed statement.
“We continue to monitor the local situation as it relates to COVID-19 and the presence of variants within the community.”
Hamilton now has 1,430 presumed cases of variants and 23 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the U.K.
The number of presumed variant cases has increased a whopping 232 per cent since March 20.
The local emergence of the P.1 mutation — of which there are
just 176 confirmed cases in Ontario — comes as the city nearly eclipsed its single-day case record.
Hamilton reported 201 new novel coronavirus cases Wednesday — a figure not seen since the height of the second wave.
The last time the city recorded 200 cases was Jan. 7, while the single-day record was 209 cases on Jan. 4.
Public health has posted at least 125 cases for six consecutive days.
Active cases continue to trend upward as the city reported 1,224 active cases Wednesday, up from 1,028 Tuesday.
The last time public health recorded a figure remotely close to that was Jan. 10, when there were 1,490 active cases.
Meanwhile, 44 people with COVID-19 in Hamilton have been hospitalized over the past week.
About 65 per cent of the city’s total COVID hospitalizations — 696 out of 1,072 — have come since Dec. 26.
The surge in coronavirus patients — along with intensivecare units filling up at crippling rates — has forced both Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton to scale back elective surgeries by more than 30 per cent. But there is help is on the way. Fifteen of the 350 new ICU beds the province committed to funding on Monday are now bound for Hamilton hospitals.
St. Joe’s will receive three beds, while HHS sites, such as Hamilton General Hospital and Juravinski Hospital, will receive a dozen.
The positive boost in ICU capacity is accompanied by the construction of a field hospital on Wellington Street North that broke ground just this week.
The HHS-run hospital — which sits in a parking lot across from Hamilton General — is expected to be completed in May and will be used as a provincial resource in the event of extreme pressure on the health-care system, said spokesperson Wendy Stewart.
Stewart said the temporary facility will house 80 patients who “require hospital level care and are expected to be discharged in approximately five to six days.”