Peterborough Public Health has confirmed in a media release that a local resident has tested positive for COVID-19 variant of concern (VOC) B.1.1.7, also known as the variant first detected in the United Kingdom.
“With this confirmation of a variant of concern, following public health measures has never been more important as VOCs have a higher rate of transmissibility than the dominant COVID-19 strain,” says Dr. Salvaterra, Medical Officer of Health. “Now it’s a race against time to try and immunize our most vulnerable populations while containing the spread of further cases. This is where we need everyone’s help.”
The case is a male in his 20s who works from home and is self-isolating. Contact tracing is underway, and it appears his exposure was from a roommate who was identified as a high-risk contact of another VOC case from another region. This roommate has since left the Peterborough area. There is one other high-risk contact connected to this household who tested negative, and this individual will be retested again on Day 10 post-exposure.