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Health experts warn of dangers of B.1.1.7 variant as it emerges in more provinces – CTV News

Published

4 years ago

February 3, 2021

TORONTO —
The variant that first emerged in Britain, B.1.1.7, is spreading its fingers across Canada, reaching two new provinces today — and emerging evidence suggests that this variant not only spreads faster, but could be transmitted during relatively brief encounters.

Saskatchewan confirmed Tuesday that two infections involve the B117 variant, while New Brunswick reported three cases of it.

There’s a growing fear across the country that it could lead to rapid outbreaks in senior’s homes and hospitals.

“It only takes one case to have those consequences,” Dr. Jennifer Russell, Chief Medical Officer of Health for New Brunswick, said.

“It is a really fast-moving strain. It infects people very, very quickly and in higher numbers. And when the strain gets in, for a population it’ll be very difficult to get ahead of it and stay ahead of it with contact tracing and self-isolation as we have done in the past.”

Alberta also reported new cases of variant infections, which may have triggered an outbreak at a daycare. Two Calgary schools have also been placed in quarantine after two children were determined to have attended school while infectious.

In several of these cases, officials are saying travel is a key source.

“It’s not just one or two countries,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said. “It’s many different countries where we are seeing people picking up those variants of concern and then coming back into Alberta.”

The variant has also developed another mutation, called E484K, which makes it more likely to evade any immunity people have developed, either naturally or with vaccines.

“It is a really worrying mutation,” Dr. Ravi Gupta, with the University of Cambridge, said. “It’s a variant that transmits faster, so this is a worrying development.”

And doctors in Canada are seeing first-hand how quickly some of the variants of the novel coronavirus can spread, even among people who were following public health precautions. In Ontario, York region has been tracking the B.1.1.7 variant, and according to Dr. Karim Kurji, medical officer of health for the region, the variant might take much less time to infect people than the original strain before it.

“When we interviewed the cases, we discovered that some of them have actually not spent more than a minute, or two minutes, doing some essential shopping in places,” Kurji told CTV News.

“It gives us the impression that this [is] being transmitted very fast indeed.”

The region only had 15 variant cases last week. Now, they have 39 cases. In some situations, Kurji said, the incubation period of the virus is very short as well.

“In one case, it was only 18 hours to two days, so that indicates that [the variant] is very transmissible,” he said.

York region has a specific unit concentrating on cases of the B.1.1.7 variant now, focusing on contact tracing and making that each case is self-isolating.

Many of the cases in York region are not connected directly to travel, showing that there is community spread of this variant.

“For the ones that have acquired it abroad, it is a spectrum of countries,” Kurji said. “Countries like Ghana, Israel, the Maldives, Egypt, the U.K. So that tells me that the variant is probably prevalent across many countries in the world.”

It’s not the only variant causing concern. In the U.K., health officials are recommending aggressive testing of communities to control more contagious variants of the coronavirus after 11 cases of B 1.351, the variant that first emerged in South Africa, were found in one community.

Health experts are concerned that with talk of lifting restrictions, these new variants could trigger another boom in cases because of the much greater risk they pose.

Kurji pointed out that if these more contagious variants become the dominant strain, our vaccination goals have to change.

“For example, the herd immunity that we’ve been aiming for is around 70 per cent vaccination. If we have a predominance of these variants, we may have to aim for herd immunity that might be closer to 85 per cent, which is going to be rather difficult to achieve. And that may mean a protraction of the COVID-19 endemic,” he said.

“So the price is quite high here.”

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Business

Roots sees room for expansion in activewear, reports $5.2M Q2 loss and sales drop

Published

23 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.

The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.

“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.

The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.

But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.

Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.

“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.

“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”

Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.

The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.

In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.

Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.

The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.

The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.

Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.

Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.

It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.

Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.

Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ROOT)

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Talks on today over HandyDART strike affecting vulnerable people in Metro Vancouver

Published

2 days ago

September 12, 2024

Anne Joseph

VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.

No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.

About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.

Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.

Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.

A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

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Transat AT reports $39.9M Q3 loss compared with $57.3M profit a year earlier

Published

2 days ago

September 12, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.

The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.

The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.

Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)

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