Winnipeg Free Press
By: Danielle Da Silva and Dylan Robertson
| Posted: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021
Winnipeg Free Press
A highly contagious variant of COVID-19, which first appeared in the United Kingdom, was mistakenly suspected in seven COVID-19 cases on a northern First Nation because it shares the same markers as a "Manitoba variant" of the virus.
Over the weekend, there were concerns the B.1.1.7 mutation had arrived on the remote Pauingassi First Nation in the thick of a COVID-19 outbreak.
On Tuesday, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said the seven cases had been processed by the National Microbiology Lab and came back negative for the U.K. variant.