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Feb 25, 2021 · surveillance for potentially important variants. • The threshold for determination of a variant of concern is high in order to focus attention and resources on the variants with the highest public health implications, while reducing noise and unwarranted diversion of limited resources.
COVID-19 Variants of Concern (VOCs) PHO is working with the Ontario Ministry of Health, the provincial testing network for COVID-19 and other laboratories, research and health care partners to test for and monitor COVID-19 variants of concern (VOCs) in Ontario. Variants are viruses that have changed or mutated.
Variants were initially imported via travel from outside the country. There is an increase in community spread of these variants of concern; The Government of Canada continues to work with the provinces, territories and Indigenous partners to track and respond to these variants of concern; Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) continues to:
The genetic material from each variant can mix to form a combined variant, referred to as a recombinant virus. Recombinant viruses inherit the properties of their parents, which can change how the virus behaves. The scientific names of the variants discussed below that start with “X” are known as recombinant variants (for example, XBB.1).
Jul 13, 2021 · B.1.1.529 or the Omicron variant. The WHO on November 26 declared the recently-discovered B.1.1.529 strain of COVID-19, first detected in southern Africa, to be a variant of concern and renamed it ...
Feb 22, 2022 · The Omicron variant of concern is currently the dominant variant circulating globally, accounting for nearly all sequences reported to GISAID. Omicron is made up of several sublineages, each of them being monitored by WHO and partners. Of them, the most common ones are BA.1, BA.1.1 (or Nextstrain clade 21K) and BA.2 (or Nextstrain clade 21L).
These variants are categorized as the variant of interest (VOI), variant of concern (VOC), and variant under monitoring (VUM). As of September 15, 2021, there are four SARS-CoV-2 lineages designated as the VOC (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta variants). VOCs have increased transmissibility compared to the original virus, and have the potential ...
