The Northwest Territories has one confirmed case of the Omicron variant, according to data from the GNWT.
The territory updated its Covid-19 dashboard on Monday evening to reflect the new case. The Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) announced the arrival of the variant in the NWT on Dec. 19.
“The Omicron variant is quickly becoming the dominant Covid-19 strain across Canada, replacing the Delta variant,” COVID-19 Secretariat Spokesperson Dawn Ostrem wrote in an email. “It is expected to also become the dominant strain in the NWT for that reason.”
Omicron is already the dominant strain of Covid in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing on Monday that 73 per cent of sequenced cases were Omicron.
Ostrem would not give an estimate of how many people may have been exposed to the one confirmed case, citing privacy laws that govern contact-tracing investigations.
She said that although no new health measures would be put in place following the discovery of the Omicron case, the CPHO is recommending that travellers take extra precautions during the first 72 hours after returning from abroad, including avoiding large gatherings and limiting contact with other households.
According to the GNWT’s Covid dashboard, Delta is still the dominant strain in the NWT: Of the 23 cases recorded this month, seven were confirmed to be Delta, with another nine listed as “presumed Delta.”
There were 16 active cases of Covid in the NWT as of Dec. 21, including 13 from the previous seven days.
The territory’s Covid dashboard is updated every weekday at 5 p.m.