Traveller’s virus sample in limbo at lab for 13 days

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2021 (1414 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province is investigating why it took 13 days to transfer a COVID-19 sample from a provincial lab to the National Microbiology Lab — just 600 metres away — which resulted in a delay in finding the first case of the contagious U.K. variant in Manitoba.

“We are looking at this case to identify any logistical issues, and will address any that are identified,” a provincial spokeswoman wrote Thursday.

“Constant improvement and efficiency of the process is expected.”

It’s uncertain whether the traveller’s five household members were allowed to go to work and school during that time despite stricter quarantine rules for close contacts of people who have a variant of the virus. 

Variants that have taken hold in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil appear to be more infectious than the original form of the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, the province revealed it had learned on Feb. 8 that a sample collected on Jan. 21, from someone who had been in Africa and Europe, contained the B.1.1.7 variant, which has spread rapidly in Britain.

Scientists have questioned why it took Manitoba 18 days to learn about its first variant case; they directed their criticism toward provincial officials and not laboratory staff.

On Tuesday, Manitoba’s top doctor implied the test had taken 18 days to complete.

“The initial test results were received on Jan. 22 and the test was sent to the National Microbiology Lab for further sequencing; and the results were received last evening,” Dr. Brent Roussin told reporters.

But the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday that’s not the full story.

“We would like to clarify that the National Microbiology Laboratory received the sample on Thursday, Feb. 4,” spokeswoman Anna Maddison wrote in an email to the Free Press.

“The sample was processed, and the result released on Monday, Feb. 8. Two of the four days that the (national lab) processed the sample fell on a Saturday and Sunday.”

Manitoba Health had no explanation for the 13-day delay. The Cadham Provincial Laboratory and the national lab are close to each other, near the Health Sciences Centre.

The province said it could not reveal whether the traveller’s household was required to adhere to an enhanced quarantine.

“We are unable to provide specifics about public-health advice given to the variant-positive case for privacy reasons,” the province wrote.

As of Jan. 29, all household contacts of anyone suspected of carrying a COVID-19 variant must stay home for as long as 24 days. That period includes the variant case’s incubation period — generally 10 days after symptoms appear — plus two weeks, to ensure no further transmission.

Manitoba has been sequencing some COVID-19 samples for almost a year, but the provincial Cadham lab started screening only recently. Screening involves a preliminary scan for possible mutations, which is later sent for sequencing, a more thorough and costly process.

The province says Cadham staff has been screening samples for the U.K. variant “since early February,” suggesting the Jan. 21 sample had not been flagged as a possible mutant.

However, as of Jan. 4, Manitoba has required anyone who arrives from abroad to get tested, and has sent all positive results for detailed sequencing.

The traveller who tested positive for the U.K. variant, arrived in Canada on Jan. 19, meaning he was legally ordered to stay home only until Feb. 2 under the Quarantine Act. With his sample not reaching the national lab for two more days, and the detection of the U.K. variant on Feb. 8, it’s possible the entire household was allowed to circulate in public for those six days.

Roussin’s deputy, Dr. Jazz Atwal, revealed the traveller is male, and speculated that he either isolated well from his family, or “could have been at the tail end of his communicability when he landed” in Canada.

Premier Brian Pallister said the province constantly re-evaluates its screening and sequencing protocols, and he insisted expense would not hinder what is necessary to keep track of these variants.

Pallister chided the Free Press for publishing criticism of the length of time it took to learn about the U.K. variant, which one microbiologist had described as being “insane.”

“Our health leadership has done a tremendous job in preparing us and protecting us through this entire pandemic, and I think they deserve better than a headline that uses the word ‘insane,’” the premier said.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said he’s concerned lengthy test times will allow a more contagious variant to take hold in Manitoba.

“We really need to find a way to shorten that turnaround time when it comes to identifying the variants. Two-and-a-half weeks is too long,” he said.

Meanwhile, the province said it’s ramping up both its screening and sequencing for variants, and that it’s part of a national project to share results and best practices.

“As of this week, the majority of samples are being screened” for the U.K. variant, the province said, noting it might screen one positive COVID-19 result from a household with multiple infections, which is standard testing protocol. The province aims to screen for other variants as well.

Manitoba also said that since last March, it has sent samples to be sequenced for “more than 140 COVID outbreaks in diverse settings” such as personal care homes, hospitals, jails and northern communities.

The province selects about five per cent of positive samples to be fully sequenced.

— with files from Larry Kusch and Danielle Da Silva

 

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca