the variant of the coronavirus first identified in india and that accounts for the majority of new cases in the united kingdom was officially recognized as a “variant of concern” by quebec’s public health institute on monday.
the institut national de santé publique du québec (inspq) listed the b.1.167 variant as under “increased surveillance” in the province, with 27 cases detected through genomic sequencing to date.
the first case was found on april 26. as of may 11, there were 11 cases recorded in the province.
other cases are in the process of being tested, the institute noted, meaning there could be more still undetected in quebec. british columbia has identified more than 500 cases of b.1.167, and ontario has reported 322 infections linked to the variant.
to date, all of the cases of the variant that emerged in india came from travellers, about half of whom came into quebec by air, and the rest via land border crossings.
quebec has been sending about 20 per cent of its samples of positive covid-19 tests for in-depth genomic sequencing tests to identify variants for the last month and a half, said michel roger, director of quebec’s laboratory of public health. none have indicated that cases of the b.1.167 variant came from community transmission, he said.