Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health reports that doctors are investigating four more possible cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant—two in Hamilton and two in Ottawa. These potential cases are in addition to the two reported over the weekend in Ottawa—people who landed in Montreal after recently travelling to Nigeria.

Dr. Kieran Moore says public health units are also reaching out to 375 people who have returned from countries considered at high-risk for the new variant and offering them testing.

2/5 Canada has a robust monitoring program in place to detect genetic changes in the #SARSCoV2 virus that causes #COVID19 and/or to identify any new variants of the virus in Canada, such as the #Omicron variant of concern.

— Dr. Theresa Tam (@CPHO_Canada) November 28, 2021

Dr. Lisa Barrett, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie who specializes in infectious disease and immunology, says they don’t yet know a lot about this version of the Coronavirus including its transmissibility. However, she says it’s likely that there are more cases in Canada than just the two in Ontario.

Dr. Barrett says it’s important to keep a close eye on it.

She expects to see more of the virus and that it’s important to keep the number of cases limited until we can get more people vaccinated over the next 6 to 8 months. It’s also important to track it in order to determine how we want our vaccines to look in the coming months and seasons.

Portuguese health authorities have identified 13 cases of the new coronavirus variant among team members of a professional soccer club.

Health ministers from the G7 nations, including Canada, meet in emergency session today.

Meanwhile Moderna says a vaccine for the Omicron variant could be ready by early 2022.