But what Ontario and other provinces didn't see — or didn't act on — were variant numbers that already showed signs of growth, the data shows. By April 6, the day the province delivered another stay-at-home order, variants accounted for about 70 per cent of COVID-19 cases. "It's been kind of a data black hole," said Soucy who co-authored a report on the gaps in variant data reporting. A centralized system would have provided a clearer national picture for public health authorities to enforce more effective measures, he said. "I think having those real-time variant numbers could have allowed us to ... raise the alarm a little more forcefully," he said.

Source: CBC News April 30, 2021 08:00 UTC