Omicron variant case reported in Windsor-Essex, 3 more lives lost

The omicron variant has been reported in Windsor-Essex, public health reported on Tuesday.

According to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's website, one case of the variant has been detected in the region. 

Acting medical officer of health, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, said it was "only a matter of time" before a detection of the variant was reported locally. 

Ontario announced two weeks ago that it had detected Canada's first two omicron cases. Since then, the variant has come to represent about 11 per cent of infections, according to the province's expert pandemic advisory panel, and has begun spreading in local communities.

The province's top doctor has said he expects omicron will become dominant within weeks. 

Canada's chief public health officer said Monday there is evidence of community spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant and new COVID-19 cases are expected to "rapidly escalate" in the coming days.

Dr. Theresa Tam said there is "great spread potential" with omicron and the situation in Canada is a "few days or maybe a week" behind the U.K. — where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the country is dealing with a "tidal wave" of new infections, with the caseload doubling every two or three days as the variant takes hold.

"We know how to work together to flatten that curve and we need to do that pretty rapidly, starting now," Tam said. "As with other waves of the pandemic, rapid action and reducing contact [are] key to preventing that very sharp peak."

Amid the report of the new variant discovered locally, WECHU is also reporting 44 new COVID-19 cases for the region and three more people have died due to the disease. 

One person was a woman in her 20s, a man in his 60s and a man in his 70s have also died. 

Thirty-four people are in local hospitals with the disease. 

Although one case of omicron was reported, the dominant variant of concern in the region is the delta variant with 3,837 cases reported locally. 

There are 22 workplace and community outbreaks within the community. 

Chartwell Royal Oak Long Term Care Residence and Country Village Health Care remain under outbreak. As of Tuesday, Sun Parlor Home for Senior Citizens is also under an outbreak.