Another case of UK COVID variant found in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan has its third case of a COVID-19 variant.

In a media release Thursday, the Ministry of Health reported another case of the U.K. variant had been detected, this time in a resident of the Saskatoon zone.

The previous two cases were people who lived in the Regina area.

In the latest case, the individual had travelled to Canada from southeast Asia and was tested in mid-January.

According to the provincial government, the person quarantined after their trip and isn’t infectious any longer. As well, Public Health determined all of the person’s contacts had been identified and there wasn’t any sign of further transmission.

“While the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory is testing travellers for variants of concern, those tests must be genome-sequenced at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg at this time,” the government said. “This process can take one to two weeks.

“The RRPL is planning to increase their capacity to complete genome sequencing in Saskatchewan.”

It’s believed current vaccines are effective against the U.K., South African and Brazilian variants.

During a media conference Tuesday, Dr. Saqib Shahab — the province’s chief medical health officer – said the best defence against the variants is to follow public health orders.

“Everything we’re doing right now is everything that’s important to minimize the transmission of any COVID strain, whether it’s a variant of concern or the predominant strain right now in Canada …,” Shahab said.

“We’ll constantly have to stay the course with our public health measures, keep seeing a downward trend, monitor the impacts of variants of concern and see if we need to adjust, and most importantly continue to strive for a high vaccine uptake.”

More work to be done as COVID variants arrive: Sask. NDP

With variants posing an even greater risk for spread of the virus, the leader of the Saskatchewan NDP believes the provincial government didn’t do enough to prepare.

Ryan Meili said the provincial lab should be able to test for the virus variants now, instead of having to send samples to the national lab in Winnipeg.

“Because of (the government’s) failure to staff up, we’re sending these away, making it longer between suspecting a variant being here and having that confirmation, making it harder for us to respond properly,” Meili said Thursday.

Meili said the province had months to prepare for the second wave and hire more lab workers and contact tracers.

“(Scott Moe’s) magical thinking in the fall that somehow this had all just gone away has made us more vulnerable,” said Meili.

In the late fall, the Saskatchewan Health Authority said it was planning to hire dozens of people but it’s unclear whether all those positions were filled.

Meili said because we can’t test for the variant here, it’s obvious the SHA didn’t do enough.

Meili wants the government to take immediate action. He’s calling for some of the contingency fund to be used to hire more staff in the labs and to contact trace.

Meili also wants to see more rapid testing used in high-risk areas like schools and long-term care homes, and he repeated his belief the province should release a clearer, more-detailed vaccination plan.

According to Meili, COVID-19 is running rampant in Saskatchewan and there’s a chance it could get worse with the variants. He said Moe’s plan of using the vaccine as the key to dealing with the virus isn’t enough.

“(Moe) pits health against the economy, not recognizing that his failure to act on health has been very damaging to employment in this province. And now he’s pitting vaccines versus public health measures when we know that the answer is to do both,” said Meili.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick