What you should know about Omicron subvariants EG.5 and BA.2.86 – CTV
Sept. 14, 2023
Just as they have every autumn since 2020, COVID-19 infection and hospitalization numbers have begun to rise across Canada as summer winds down into September.
In a televised technical briefing on Tuesday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam assigned some of the blame for this uptick in COVID-19 activity to new Omicron subvariants.
“The Omicron variant continues to evolve,” Tam said, “with XBB subvariants such as EG.5 continuing to circulate in Canada and globally.”
On Tuesday, Health Canada approved a new COVID-19 vaccine formulation from Moderna that targets the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5. That strain was first detected in the United States in October 2022, where it quickly overtook other circulating strains.
