'Numbers are skyrocketing': WRH on rising COVID-19 cases

Despite a drop in influenza and RSV cases in Windsor-Essex, hospital officials say COVID-19 is once again on the rise.

Health officials are tracking a new sub-variant called XBB.1.5, or 'Kraken’.

"At the beginning of December in the united states, this represented less than 0.1 per cent of all infections, the week before christmas is was up to 20 per cent," said chief medical officer of health at Windsor Regional Hospital Dr. Wassim Saad.

Cases of Kraken are exploding across Asia and the U.S.

Scientists say this latest variant is more transmissible than others before it.

"At the end of December, it was up to 45 per cent, and the northeast, including Michigan, it was accounting for up to 75 per cent of all infections," said Saad.

Saad says there’s no question the latest sub-variant of omicron has already hit the Windsor-Essex community.

"We do know in Windsor being a border city that we are going to be one of the first areas in Canada to see a variant like this,” said Saad.

According to weekly statistics released by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit on Thursday, there are 258 new high risk cases od COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex. The local death toll related to COVID since March 2020 is at 732 people.

WRH is reporting 45 in-patients with COVID, with 23 of them being primarily treated for the virus. There are three people with COVID in the ICU, one of them is being primarily treated for COVID.

These concerns come as travellers from China , Hong Kong and Macao now need to show a negative COVID test before they'll be allowed into the country.

Health Canada says that rule was put in place partly because of surging cases in China.

Chinese hospitals are crammed with patients as the country grapples with some of the largest outbreaks its seen so far in the pandemic.

Other concerns include an expected increase in travel for the Chinese New Year and hospital capacity issues in Canada.

“It's like a drop in the bucket when you consider how many cases you have in Canada daily,” said infectious disease expert Alon Vaisman.

Vaisman said the previous efforts to control the spread of COVID like this have proven ineffective.

“Even if there was a specific variant of concern that was coming from China only, the likelihood of you being able to control that with these kinds of restrictions or testing is very low,” said Vaisman.

Saad said it’s still unclear how severe Kraken will be in terms of infections, but continues to encourage the public to get the bi-valiant booster vaccine as it will provide protection against this sub-variant of COVID-19.

"The antiviral's that we have, the vaccinations, the masking, are still going to be effective in helping us protect against a major wave,” said Saad.