There have been at least 34 cases of variants confirmed in Canada in recent weeks, but several have no known link to travel and have prompted concerns the variants could be already driving outbreaks undetected. The Roberta Place long-term care home in Barrie, Ont., is facing Canada's first outbreak where a coronavirus variant was detected. "There certainly is a worry that some of those were actually related to coronavirus variants," he said. Without effective international sharing of data, Canada could continue to see new variants arise in the future that are only identified after they've spread around the world. WATCH | Vaccinations a race against coronavirus variants:COVID-19 vaccinations a race against new variants The National Video 2:01 New coronavirus variants are increasing the pressure to get more people vaccinated before the variants derail those efforts and vaccines need to be retooled.

Source: CBC News January 23, 2021 09:00 UTC