'No risk' to community from current Sask. Omicron cluster: Shahab

Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said the province is keeping a careful eye on the presence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

"Within 24 hours our local public health labs in Saskatchewan were able to confirm through whole genome sequencing," Shahab said. "The process worked flawlessly."

The province reported its first cases of the variant on Wednesday after four people from the same household screened positive. The family has a travel history to one of the countries of concern identified by the federal government.

Shahab said there is "no risk" to the community from the current cluster.

"Almost every province has reported a case or more," Shahab said, speaking on the Omicron cases detected throughout Canada to date. "So far out of the 60-odd cases all have been mild and there have been no hospitalizations. I think that's very reassuring."

Shahab said he's watching the situation in the United Kingdom closely, where more cases of the variant have been identified along with community transmission.

"Because the UK has similar vaccine uptake compared to us in Canada and Saskatchewan and surveillance systems similar to us," Shahab said. "We will be looking very closely in the UK to see how Omicron behaves in terms of is it more transmissible, is it more severe, how well do the vaccines protect, not just two doses but the booster doses."

Shahab also said he's confident in the processes for detecting cases at both the Canadian Border Services and follow-ups by Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency partners and public health.