Canada’s Ontario finds two cases of virus variant first seen in U.K.

The cases, identified in a couple in southern Ontario with no known travel history, exposure or high-risk contact, came as the province went into a lockdown.

Health officials in Ontario said on Saturday that two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom have appeared in the Canadian province.

The cases, identified in a couple in southern Ontario with no known travel history, exposure or high-risk contact, came as the province went into a lockdown on Saturday.

“This further reinforces the need for Ontarians to stay home as much as possible and continue to follow all public health advice, including the province-wide shutdown measures beginning today,” Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer, said in a statement.

Last week, Canada extended to Jan. 6 a ban on passenger flights arriving from Britain and expanded enhanced screeninga nd monitoring measures to travellers arriving from South Africa,citing the rise of the more infectious variant.