New COVID-19 variant EG.5 is in Ontario. Here's what that means for you

A new COVID-19 variant that’s become the dominant strain in the United States has made its way to Ontario, according to public health officials.

A new COVID-19 variant that’s become the dominant strain in the United States has made its way to Ontario, according to public health officials.

In a report released last month, Public Health Ontario (PHO) said cases of EG.5 – a descendant of the Omicron variant – represented 5.2 per cent of all reported and genetically sequenced infections between July 2 and July 8.

With a weekly growth rate of 1.90 per cent, PHO said cases of EG.5 (or Eris as it’s being referred to by some) were expected to represent 35 per cent of all infections by August 2, the latest date in which data is available.

So what does the emergence of another COVID-19 variant mean to you? CTV News Toronto spoke with Dr. Fahad Razak, an internal medicine physician and former scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, for some answers.

Much like variants that have come before EG.5, Razak said a new version of the virus is not unexpected three-and-a-half years into the pandemic.

“We've seen versions of the virus continue to mutate, and the ones that are able to evade your immune system become the most common version circulating, which makes sense, because those are the ones that can spread between people,” Razak explained.

In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said EG.5 accounted for roughly 17.3 per cent — or one in six — of new COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, approximately 14.6 per cent — or one in seven — of all COVID-19 cases are EG.5.