1/n I asked Public Health Ontario about the state of testing for the B.117 variant that's behind the *really bad* case curves in Ireland and the U.K.

I'm told PHO is doing active surveillance, sequencing about 250 samples per week at its own lab, w. plans to ramp that up. https://twitter.com/EdTubb/status/1347955190822023168

2/n PHO says it's testing for B117 in three ways:

1. In positive samples of individuals with a "history of international travel or who have had contact with someone with a history of international travel, and/or any sample related to a known or suspected superspreading event."

3/n

2. Other labs in the testing network are looking for local patterns consistent with B117 and sending samples to PHO.

3. Additional screening of positives "irrespective of whether they fit the above criteria."

4/n PHO says it's actively conducting surveillance of positives in Toronto, Peel, York, Windsor-Essex, Durham and Hamilton, and is looking into expanding that to places like Lambton.

5/n On the technical side, PHO says it has a screening test that can identify both B117 and the also-scary South African variant.

They say any hit for this test will undergo additional screening.

They say they're also monitoring for new variants.

6/n All told, PHO says it's found 6 total cases of the U.K. variant in Ontario and none of the South African in 1,850 sequences sampled at the PHO lab since September.

They say other non-PHO labs are also be doing sequencing tests that aren't included in this total.

7/n PHO says it's planning to increase weekly surveillance to 350+ tests per week over the coming weeks.

So. There you have it: That the state of testing for B117 in Ontario right now.

Personally, I find this somewhat reassuring evidence that B117 in *not* widely active here.

8/n Here's the full response to my questions: