Variant BA.2.86 has not yet been detected in Ottawa's wastewater, but Graber expects it will show up within the next month. While it is too early to say whether the new vaccines will be able to target BA.2.86, Lin said there is some hope. Health Canada told CBC News Monday it is considering three new vaccines specifically designed to target the subvariant XBB.1.5, which like EG.5, is also part of the Omicron family. 'I haven't seen evidence yet that it has an ability to out compete the other viruses out there. If it can't do that, then it's just going to fizzle out,' Evans said. Not all are sounding the alarm bells quite yet. 'We're kind of in the same situation,' Lin said. 'Everybody is sounding the alarm bells again.' Omicron was the last variant that appeared with this many mutations. 'So the antibodies we made from the vaccine or previous infections may not be able to grab the spike protein as easily, which means the virus could slip past our defences.' Everybody is sounding the alarm bells again. Peter Lin, director of primary care initiatives at the Canadian Heart Research Centre in Toronto. 'This virus has 30 mutations or changes to spike protein, which is the part the antibodies try to grab to take out the virus,' explained Dr. This variant has only been identified in a few countries around the world, but its high number of mutations still has health experts concerned. The first Canadian case of a new COVID-19 variant known as BA.2.86 appeared in British Columbia on Aug. (CBC) What do we know about new variant BA.2.86? Ottawa Public Health says 177 new COVID-19 cases were reported the week of Aug. 'That's indicative of a COVID-19 wave happening in the city and unsurprisingly that is followed by an increase in hospitalizations that we're seeing now in Ottawa,' Graber said. Graber has seen a gradual increase in most of these variants in the wastewater over the past four weeks but EG.5 is outpacing the other variants. Subvariant EG.5 is just one of several variants in Ottawa's wastewater right now, according to Tyson Graber, co-lead investigator of the wastewater monitoring project in Ottawa. 'We know that as the virus continues to evolve and mutate there will be these periodic rises that occur.' 'Most of us who've been watching carefully expected there to be a rise,' Razak said. He said this summer's rise echoes rises that have occurred in earlier years of the pandemic. Fahad Razak, former scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, explained COVID-19 infections have yet to settle into a seasonal pattern like we now expect from RSV and influenza. What questions do you have? Fill out the details on this form to get your questions in early.ĭr. This week on Cross Country Checkup, our Ask Me Anything focuses on the new COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 and what's next for masking and booster shots.'It's more that we're in close contact with each other,' she said. Ottawa's medical officer of health Vera Etches said Thursday it's not yet clear that subvariants are driving the increase.

'A lot of people haven't had a booster for about 12 months and have lost a fair degree of the immunity that might have protected them from getting infected.' Most of us who've been watching carefully expected there to be a rise.

Gerald Evans, chair of the division of infectious diseases at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. 'Right now it accounts for about 60 per cent of the current positives we're seeing so that's what's driving this late summer wave,' said Dr. Health experts attribute the recent rise in infections to the spread of Omicron subvariant EG.5, which has been circulating in Canada since at least May, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. These early warning signs have some wondering whether COVID-19 is making a comeback, and if it is, how bad it will be.ĬBC Ottawa spoke with public health experts to get some answers. Ottawa's medical officer of health Vera Etches said current higher COVID-19 levels are expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks. The highly mutated new variant BA.2.86 was also detected in Canada for the first time on Tuesday.

The past month has seen an increase in positive test cases, a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and rising virus levels in wastewater across the country. Key indicators are forecasting Canadians may be on the brink of entering a fall COVID-19 wave.

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