Waterloo investigates ‘strong probability’ of Omicron cases linked to two outbreaks of a hockey tournament

Waterloo’s public health authorities are investigating the “strong likelihood” of the first Omicron cases in the area related to two COVID-19 epidemics in hockey tournaments.

On Saturday, the region said it was investigating more than 30 virus cases related to two separate hockey tournaments.

Eleven cases relate to a tournament in London involving the Hespeler Shamrocks Hockey Team and another relates to 20 cases related to the Cambridge Roadrunners Ajax and Markham area tournament.

“Public health awaits the results of whole genomic sequencing; However, the likelihood that these will be Omicron clusters is very high, ”the Waterloo Region statement says.

Authorities said four cases of the Hespeler Shamrocks Team and one case of the Cambridge Roadrunners Team have shown a positive sign, increasing the likelihood that the cases are an Omicron variant.

“It is very likely that a new version of Omicron is already here in the Waterloo area, and we expect it to spread rapidly,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the Waterloo Health Authority, said in a statement.

“We know that the best protection against COVID-19 and the new variant of Omicron is to vaccinate and follow public health measures. In this time of increased risk, we are also advising residents to reduce unnecessary social contact.”

A top doctor in Ontario said yesterday that the Omicron variant accounted for about 10 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the province on Thursday.

He said Omicron could replace Delta as the dominant variant in the province by January.

“I am concerned about the rise of Omicron in Ontario,” Dr. Kieran Moore said in the COVID-19 update.

“It is expected that we will have a significant rise in the coming weeks and next month. And that could become the dominant position very soon.”