Niagara's public health agency is investigating 33 cases of COVID-19 variants in the region, a news conference on Monday revealed.
Acting Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, said the cases appear to be linked to GTA travel, but that a couple of the variant cases are being investigated with no clear source determined, sparking concerns over possible community spread.
The cases are awaiting final confirmation from sequencing, which will also determine what variant the cases are.
"It is not a positive story," said Hirji during the media conference.
"They are growing quickly, and the reproduction number of them is quite high. Their doubling time as it looks right now is about 4,5 days."
Last week, only six presumed cases of the variant had been located in Niagara.
Following the provincial modeling for how the development in the pandemic might look, Hirji said regular COVID-19 cases appear to continue dropping, while variant cases are considered the main drivers of the spread.
Niagara had 14 new infections confirmed on Monday, with the list of active health-care facility outbreaks down to just two, after public health distributed vaccines to all residents.
Provincial projections have set the likely rate of variant cases in all new cases to 40 percent by the second week of March, an imminent date that is fast approaching.
"It comes down to us citizens to avoid a third wave," Hirji said as he reiterated the importance of only venturing out for essential purposes, despite Monday being the first day of the lesser restricted Red-Control level of the provincial framework.
The province has the opportunity to pull an 'emergency brake' on regions that show alarming spread, reverting back into lockdown should it be needed.
"I am a bit suspicious that the province might be hesitant to invoke the emergency brake right away as we are moving into Red zone today," Hirji said.
He will be seeking the consultation of medical officers in Thunder Bay, and Simcoe-Muskoka to better understand what considerations they made before calling for the reopening to be reverted.
