A highly-contagious coronavirus mutation first found in Britain will become the dominant strain in Ontario sometime in March, provincial modellers predict, narrowing the room for error as the province enters a period of sustained case decline.
Ontario Science Table Co-Chair Dr. Adalsteinn Brown told reporters it is now only a matter of time before the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant becomes the dominant strain.
“Perhaps most worryingly the new variants of concern of the mutate SARS-COVID-2 virus are clearly spreading in the community and will likely be the dominant version of the virus in March,” he said on Thursday afternoon.
Canada falls to 20th in the world for vaccine doses administered
Canada has fallen behind other developed nations in the number of shots administered per capita as supply disruptions derail planned vaccinations.
According to data collated by the University of Oxford-based Our World in Data, Canada now ranks 20th globally, well behind allies like the United States and the United Kingdom but also middle-income countries like Poland and Serbia.
