Photo Credit: Government of Alberta

By Shane Clausing

Omicron variant in alberta

Alberta confirms first Omicron variant COVID-19 case

Nov 30, 2021 | 2:05 PM

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health confirmed Tuesday afternoon the province has identified its first Omicron variant COVID-19 case.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the case was found in a recent traveller from Nigeria and the Netherlands.

She says the individual who tested positive is asymptomatic and is remaining in quarantine at home.

The new Omicron variant shows signs of potentially being more transmissible, which could affect the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Hinshaw says with this new virus spreading in southern Africa and parts of Europe, it was inevitable the variant would end up in Alberta.

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“I don’t want Albertans to be alarmed. As I mentioned yesterday, we anticipated the arrival of this variant in the province eventually, based on what we’ve seen with previous strains of COVID-19. We were well prepared for this eventuality and have the necessary tools in place to monitor this case and any potential spread of the variant.”

Alberta and British Columbia both confirmed cases of the Omicron variant on Tuesday. Ontario and Quebec reported cases of the variant over the last several days.

While the new variant is a concern to many, Dr. Hinshaw mentioned we’re in a much better spot this time around, as opposed to last year when the Alpha variant sparked the second wave of COVID-19 in the province.

“The reason I want to reassure Albertans, in particular, is that I do believe, everything we’ve seen prior, is vaccines are likely to provide still some protection against severe outcomes.”

“I believe we have some very good infrastructure where we can detect this in its early days and slow its spread,” explained Hinshaw.

Hinshaw added right now the province’s current goal is to slow the spread of this new variant, so they can learn more about it and what threat it potentially poses to Albertans.