Nova Scotia confirms 2 cases of 'Kraken' COVID-19 variant

Nova Scotia Health and Wellness says there have been two cases of the COVID-19 variant XBB.1.5 — also known as the Kraken — reported in the province to date.

The new subvariant of Omicron is rapidly spreading and has been identified in 25 countries so far. In the U.S., it is projected to soon hit roughly 40 per cent of COVID-19 cases. In Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador has also identified a case.

"It doesn't seem to be overly causing more hospitalizations and deaths but that's certainly a big concern [as] it's spreading. And also that there is some mutation in there that may change how well your immune system protection, either from natural protection or vaccine, works," infectious disease expert Dr. Lisa Barrett told CBC's Information Morning Halifax on Thursday.

Immunologists have called the new variant "immune evasive." Barrett says that means the virus mutates around your immune system. While that could mean more severe disease, Barrett says experts aren't certain if that's the case yet.

Barrett is encouraging anyone who feels sick to get tested for COVID-19.

"The biggest thing that concerns me about these continuously evolving viruses is not that they're unexpected, but that we may not be doing the best job at keeping track of them anymore," she said.

20 deaths reported over two-week holiday break

Over the two-week holiday break, Nova Scotia reported a total of 20 deaths in its first update of 2023.

One of those deaths happened between Dec. 20 and Jan. 2. The remaining 19 deaths are from a previous, unspecified time period. The province said these previous deaths could be from any past reporting period, but most likely to be within the last weeks or months.

Since March 2020, Nova Scotia has recorded 694 COVID-19 deaths.

Daily average of 110 positive cases

The province reported 1,553 new cases confirmed by PCR tests in the latest time period which covered two weeks — a daily average of 110 cases.

In a news release, the province said from Dec. 20 to Dec. 26, there were 687 PCR-confirmed cases — a daily average of 98 cases. From Dec. 27 to Jan. 3, there were 866 new PCR-confirmed cases — a daily average of 123.

Nova Scotia Health reported 246 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Thursday. This is an increase from the previous reporting period when there were 164 people in hospital with COVID-19.

Of those 246 people:

• 34 were in hospital for COVID-19 (including 1 person in ICU).
• 99 were in hospital for something else but have COVID-19.
• 113 patients contracted COVID-19 after admission.

The IWK Health Centre reported fewer than five hospitalizations on Thursday.

Nova Scotia Health said there were 94 employees off work Thursday due to being diagnosed with COVID-19, were awaiting test results or being exposed to a member of their household who tested positive.

The IWK reported 56 employees off work due to COVID-19 or isolating because of COVID-19 on Thursday.