Niagara Region top doc says two new strains of Omicron coming

Niagara | Niagara Falls | St Catharines | Welland | COVID |

By

Published July 11, 2022 at 12:32 pm

Niagara Regional Health acting Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, was warning that two new subvariants of Omicron has come into the region.

The battle against COVID-19 is both far from over and far from won, says Niagara Region’s top health official.

Two new subvariants of Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5, are now spreading world-wide, including Canada, and will likely be the largest share of new COVID-19 cases in coming days.

Niagara’s Acting Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, said given the subvariants impact in Europe thus far, it seems that BA.4 and BA.5 “are fortunately not more severe but they do spread more quickly and they are harder to control and stop the spread.”

Due to the sped-up infection rate, Hirji said Niagara hospitals can expect an increase of people being hospitalized in the coming days. As well, the most recent update as Niagara hospital reporting 59 staff members off while self-isolating.

Certainly, the Niagara Regional new cases of COVID-19 are absolutely back on the uptick after months of slowly subsiding.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Niagara Region was looking at new cases in the teens and single-digits on a daily basis.

In the past week (July 5 to 11), new COVID-19 cases in Niagara have more then tripled over the earlier count.

The July 5 number of cases, 37, jumped to 48 the following days. July 7 and 8 saw matching 41 new cases before a weekend (July 9-10) decline of 28 and 19 new known cases. Today, the number is sitting at 17 new cases.

Hirji has been warning for months that the regional cases of COVID-19 is far from over, urging residents to continue masking up and socially distancing.

 

 

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising