Vanessa Tignanelli/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer is warning of the “very real” risk that new coronavirus variants could lead to a resurgence in infections as more cases of the fast-spreading variants are detected across Canada daily.
The variant threat is forcing local public-health officials to step up their COVID-19 containment measures, even as a sharp drop in overall cases since the second week of January prompts some provincial governments to tiptoe toward reopening.
The latest race to contain a variant-fuelled outbreak is unfolding in North Bay, where a cluster at an apartment tower has now spread to at least 19 residents and led to the closing of a school.