Provincial officials should be very cautious about relaxing safety measures amid signs of community spread of COVID-19 variants: Dr. Theresa Tam

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says there are signs of community spread of COVID-19 variants in several provinces.

Dr. Tam says 148 cases of the mutations that first emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa have been confirmed across the country, even as overall coronavirus case counts continue to decline.

The country's top doctor says that provincial officials should be very cautious about relaxing safety measures, as the U.K. and South African strains are highly contagious.

Dr. Tam says the variants' arrival in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia means health authorities need to ramp up their testing capacity.

The single case of the South African variant confirmed in Ontario and the four cases identified in B.C. have no known link to international travel, raising fears of community spread.