Never was that old adage more true: "Time Is Of The Essence"

"Viral evolution can't be bargained with."

"[The variant is a] 2021 nightmare, [and there are only two ways out of the nightmare]. The growth rate is going up by 40 to 70 percent and the best point estimate is in the low 50s. By god, do I hope that's wrong."

"Although we slammed the door as quickly as we knew [ban on passenger flight from the U.K. in December]; it was already too late. The variant is within Canada and circulating in the community, which means it is 100 percent, positively inevitable that it will displace the existing virus."

"It of course is going to, over time, displace strains that are less efficient at transmitting. That's just how viral ecology works."

"If you believe, as I think nearly all of us would, that more sick and more dead is simply not an option, then something has to change. There is no choice."

Amir Attaran, biologist, professor of law and medicine, University of Ottawa

"Time is of the essence for us."

"Maybe we won't see as rapid dissemination. But certainly in places with higher population density, like Ontario and Quebec and Vancouver and B.C.[s Lower Mainland, there is that concern."

Jason Kinrachuk, virologist, University of Manitoba

"We don't know exactly how prevalent [the variant is in Canada, yet]."

"We have to look at the U .K. data and certainly start to think, what is our plan to try and reduce transmission and what does this potentially mean for us in the coming months?"

Dr.Catalina Lopez-Corres, executive director, Canadian COVID Genomics Network

A new study from Imperial College London has found that the coronavirus variant first found in the U.K. is much more transmissible than the original strain   CBC

The new SARS-CoV-2 mutated virus that emerged in the United Kingdom, labelled B.1.1.7. has swept through Britain, bringing the country to a state of heightened emergency measures. The new strain, judged to be up to 70% more infectious than the original COVID-19 virus is now spreading worldwide. Cases are being reported in dozens of countries, the United States, Denmark, Netherlands, India, Turkey, Vietnam and Germany among them. And in Canada. Epidemiologists might say it was inevitable. By the time a new mutated strain is discovered and an alarm raised, the mutant variant would have travelled with anyone hosting it who flies to other destinations for business or leisure.

Internationally, where afflicted nations find themselves in the midst of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, the worst possible news they might have is that though their case numbers are already reaching new heights, they will shortly be surpassed by a more contagious new strain of the virus. There are several concerns above and apart from its guaranteed higher contagion rate; whether the mutant represents a more dangerous replication of the virus, and whether it may be resistant -- and to what degree -- to the vaccines now being rolled out.

 

Those cases emerging in Canada have been tied to returning Canadians who have travelled outside the country, coming home to British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. And then, there is in the background the spectre of yet another new mutant strain emerging in South Africa which some believe to be even more contagious than the U.K. strain. In neither case, does it appear that the mutant strains are more lethal than the original. What is of conceern, however, is that the U.K. variant has 17 mutational changes.

 

And it is in the spike protein that the mutation causes thoughtful concern for its capacity to catch and enter human cells through the medium of the spikes ,,, thus enhancing its communicability. So far, though the South African variety carries multiple spike mutations as well, there has as yet been no association with more serious symptoms arising from its infectious capabilities. According to the World Health Organization, its officials judge it not to be more contagious than the U.K.'s version flooding Britain, contradicting earlier reports.

 

"Genetic diversity of this lineage has changed in a manner consistent with exponential growth", an Imperial College London team of researchers gave warning in a pre-print of the U.K. version first identified in September. Its very transmissibility increases the basic reproduction number by between 0.4 and 0.7; representing the average number of people an infected individual infects. At the present time, Canada's reproduction number hovers at 1.0, a rate of transmission that rings alarm bells. Cases will not diminish until that number falls.

 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week a return to a COVID spring-era lockdown to last to mid-February in Britain while warning the coming weeks will be the "hardest yet". The U.K. variant took no more than three months to overtake the earlier and original circulating strain in the U.K. With double Canada's population living on a significantly more contained landmass, the kind of distancing potential that exists in Canada would prove to be more difficult to attain in Britain. 

Only days ago British authorities announced approval of two home-grown vaccines to be rolled out immediately for injections. The Oxford-Astra-Zeneca vaccine, and the Johnson & Johnson. The country is set to move speedily into an overall vaccination program, even as it struggles with the impact of a wildly reproducing and infectious outbreak. Canada has contracted with both of these pharmaceutical companies as well, but it has proven a laggard at using this defensive mechanism.

 

Canada does possess two early emergency approved vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna products. Unlike the U.K. and the United States, the rollout of the vaccines in Canada has been agonizingly slow. The provinces have so far used a mere one-quarter of the vaccines assigned to them in reflection of their population numbers. Most of the vaccines sit as-yet-unused, in freezers; coordination of vaccinations and dispensing sites are still in the planning stages. A conjunction of circumstances that cry out for Canadians to maintain vigilance, observe the masking, hygiene and distancing rules and avoid travel.

"As far as we know, we're not expecting that there are large numbers of contacts related to these cases [nine confirmed cases of the U.K. variant in Canada]. But there is always a risk of a virus that can transmit in all sorts of hidden ways to accelerate in different places."

"You've really got to double down on your efforts with a more transmissible virus."

"[Should contagion accelerate], it means that there will be more public health measures that might be needed. It would become a difficult situation."

Dr.Theresa Tam, Canadian Chief Public Health Officer