coronavirus test to help trace the possible spread of new variants of COVID-19.Dr. Vera Etches said in a news conference Tuesday that the new variants emerging in other parts of the world, especially the faster-spreading variant first identified in the U.K., will affect Ottawa’s ability to flatten the city’s surging COVID-19 curve.“It’s more transmissible.
It would make bringing the virus levels down in our community even more difficult,” Etches said of the U.K. variant. OPH identified multiple cases of this new strain in Ottawa late last year.Another variant, identified in South Africa, carries multiple genetic mutations, which some experts worry could make current vaccines less effective.