Health Canada is closely monitoring a novel COVID-19 variant, known as BA.2.86, which has surfaced in several countries, according to public health officials. The World Health Organization (WHO) has added BA.2.86 to its list of COVID-19 variants under surveillance.
While there have been no confirmed cases of BA.2.86 in Canada as of now, Health Canada is actively monitoring the situation and prepared to respond to any potential cases.
A spokesperson for Health Canada stated, “The Government of Canada has a robust monitoring program in place with the provinces and territories to identify COVID-19 variants in Canada. Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) scientists, along with national and international experts, are actively monitoring and evaluating BA.2.86 lineages and their associated studies.”
This new variant has been detected in Denmark, Israel, and the United States since late July, as reported by the global genome sequencing database GISAID.
Epidemiologists and infectious disease experts emphasize that the emergence of this variant does not necessarily warrant immediate concern. Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease expert based in Toronto, stated, “People should be cautious about jumping to premature conclusions.”
He explained that the variant is still in its early stages of detection, with limited information available regarding its transmissibility and impact. “We don’t know anything about what we would call virulence – how hard a punch [a variant] like this would pack,” said Dr. Bogoch.
Furthermore, Dr. Tyson Graber, a research associate at the CHEO Research Institute in Ottawa, pointed out that it is too soon to determine the level of transmissibility of BA.2.86. “BA.2.86 is not yet contributing to the current wave that has begun in many locations in Europe, the U.S., and here in Canada,” he noted.
The WHO reminds the public that viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), naturally change over time. While most changes have minimal impact on the virus’s characteristics, some alterations can affect transmission rates, disease severity, vaccine performance, and public health measures.
Dr. Bogoch concluded that the early detection and swift global sharing of information about this new lineage are promising signs. However, more data and research are needed to understand the significance of this variant fully. “It’s too soon to know whether this is going to amount to anything or not,” he said.