Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, said he received a communication from Public Health Ontario on the weekend indicating there is a local case of the B.1.617 variant that is widespread in India.
He said he had preliminary communication from the province's public health agency on the weekend to indicate there was a local case.
Gardner said he has asked for more specifics and is awaiting a reply from Public Health Ontario.
This would be the first case of the B.1.617 variant confirmed in Simcoe-Muskoka.
On April 24, Premier Doug Ford called for tougher border restrictions after learning there were 36 confirmed cases of the new variant that was first discovered in India.
Canada has banned flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days.
In Simcoe-Muskoka, the health unit has reported 3,088 variant cases, with 955 of those cases still active.
Gardner said every new case is testing positive as a variant strain, and noted those strains have now taken over the original strain of COVID in the region.
According to the latest update from the health unit on April 27, there have been 2,416 local cases of the B.1.1.7 variant discovered in the United Kingdom, 29 cases of the P.1. variant discovered in Brazil, and five cases of the B.1.351 variant discovered in South Africa.
Another 638 cases have screened positive without the specific variant being identified yet.
