3 cases of Omicron variant confirmed in Toronto

Health officials have confirmed the first three cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Toronto.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) says two of the individuals recently returned from travel to Nigeria, and another recently returned from Switzerland.

TPH says their case and contact management team is following up with the three cases and working to identify close contacts.

Earlier in the day, TPH said some people who went to a downtown restaurant last week may have been exposed to the  variant.

Officials said an employee at Piccolo Caffe E Vino, located at 111 John St. near Adelaide Street West, tested positive for COVID-19, and given their recent travel history to South Africa, it is suspected to be the new variant.

The employee who tested positive was at the restaurant on Nov. 26 and 27 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. TPH said it has followed up with all known close contacts and asked them to self-isolate for 10 days and get tested.

Health officials are also asking customers who were at the restaurant during those dates and times to get tested immediately, monitor for symptoms, and if they do develop symptoms to self-isolate while they wait for test results.

Officials said there is no risk to anyone who was there outside of those dates and times.

York Region has confirmed its first case of the variant in a child under 12-years-old from Vaughan. Public health officials say the case is travel-related with the youngster coming back to Canada on Nov. 22 from the southern African region.

On Thursday, two public health units in the GTA reported cases of the variant. The Durham Region Health Department said a close contact of someone who was recently in southern Africa tested positive.

As well, Halton Public Health said one person was confirmed to have the variant, and two others had probable cases. It said the three people were close contacts, and one of the people with a suspected case had recently been in Nigeria.

With files from Patricia D’Cunha and Charlene Close