1st omicron variant of COVID-19 confirmed in Hamilton

Hamilton has confirmed its first case of the omicron variant of COVID-19.

The city issued a release on Saturday saying the resident recently returned from travelling to South Africa. It was one of two cases flagged. The other potential case is still under investigation.

"Hamilton Public Health Services is conducting case and contact management and the two individuals and their case contacts continue to self-isolate," read the city's statement.

The city has shared few details about the new cases but said neither person experienced symptoms out of the ordinary.

Little is still known about the new variant besides the fact it appears to be spreading twice as fast as the delta variant — the variant that the city says represents almost all of all Hamilton's cases.

Still, the city advises anyone who was in Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe 14 days before coming to Hamilton should self-isolate and get tested.

Experts have criticized the travel bans and have also said there's no need to panic yet because of how little is known about the danger of the omicron variant.

"People shouldn't panic until there is time for those tests to be done," Lori Burrows, a McMaster University biochemistry professor and Degroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research's interim director, previously said.

On Friday, the city did not say if any other potential omicron cases are under investigation.

Hamilton's COVID-19 trends are still on the lower end compared to past waves, with a seven-day average of 25 cases, but cases saw a slight uptick since last Monday, according to local public health data.

Comparatively, Wave 1's peak was 159, Wave 2's was 200 and Wave 3's was 94.

"We're very much in a hold pattern … we're in a fairly good place and hopefully we stay there," Michelle Baird, Hamilton's COVID-19 operations chief, previously said.

There were 205 active cases and 13 active outbreaks recorded in the city on Friday.

Data shows 83.5 per cent of people who can get vaccinated are fully vaccinated.

There have been 420 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.