the health department for the region, the ciusss de la mauricie-et-du-centre-du-québec, was advised of the positive case on tuesday, officials with quebec’s public health laboratory said.
spokespersons for the regional health department referred questions to the institut national de la santé du québec (inspq), the public health institute responsible for testing. the inspq confirmed the case wednesday.
variants of covid-19 have been quickly gaining the upper hand over the original strain of the disease in quebec, accounting for close to 100 per cent of transmitted versions in some regions.
in montreal, variants account for roughly 75 per cent of cases. to date, the variant b.1.1.7, which originated in the u.k., is by far the most prevalent, but the b.1.351 variant from south africa has dominated in the abitibi region. other variants identified in small numbers in the province are the p.1 and the b.1.525.
according to bloomberg, the record-breaking number of cases in india is thought to be fuelled by the new variant called b.1.617. canadian officials, including prime minister justin trudeau and quebec public health director horacio arruda,