Ontario health officials race to avert ‘take off’ of new COVID-19 variants Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account Getting audio file ... This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press Ontario is bracing for a perilous inflection point in the COVID-19 pandemic, which a mathematical model projects could result from a new variant of the virus that is showing up in the province. According to the projection, released during a news briefing on Tuesday, the variant is poised to rapidly inflate case numbers and overwhelm emergency rooms in the province based on its behaviour in other locations. The projection helps explain why Ontario has issued a provincewide stay-at-home order beginning Thursday.