Why the new COVID-19 variant Omicron has scientists on alert. And how Canada is responding to it

The Omicron COVID-19 variant has not yet been spotted in Canada, but it could turn up in genomic surveillance conducted by provincial and regional public-health labs.ANDREW BOYERS/Reuters.

“We know for a fact that this variant will be more difficult to neutralize,” said Marc-André Langlois, a molecular virologist at the University of Ottawa who leads the Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network (CoVaRR-Net).

WHO says new COVID-19 variant Omicron is a ‘variant of concern’ as travel restrictions imposed in several countries.

The surveillance requires sequencing and analyzing the viral RNA extracted from positive cases of COVID-19 in order to obtain the precise lineage of the virus behind each infection.

Janet Wong, a spokesperson for Public Health Ontario, said any positive COVID-19 samples submitted to the province this month that are related to international travel will be screened for signs of Omicron.

1, Ontario plans to resume routine screening for variants of concern – something it had recently discontinued because the Delta variant currently accounts for more than 99 per cent of all COVID-19 cases, Ms.

A spokesperson for the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control said the centre would continue with its current strategy of sequencing all positive samples from returning travellers, cluster and outbreak cases, cases in hospital, vaccine breakthrough infections, long-term care cases and possible reinfections.

Langlois said that while no laboratories in Canada have yet had access to samples of Omicron, its spike protein can be synthesized based on genetic data.

However, the degree to which Omicron differs genetically from other variants of concern has led to a more serious and rapid response than to any other variant to date.

Joy said some of the changes in Omicron are already known from previous studies to worsen the impact of COVID-19.