On Saturday, the first two cases of the new coronavirus variant in Canada were announced by Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health.

"A third case of the COVID-19 UK Variant has been reported in an individual in Ottawa with recent travel from the UK. The Ottawa Public Health Department has informed the individual who is now in self-isolation. Case and contact management investigation is underway," Ontario authorities said in a Sunday update.

According to the release, there has been an update regarding the first two cases, which are a couple from Durham who were said to have gone into self-isolation on Saturday.

"In addition, since the initial reporting of the first two cases of the variant on December 26, 2020, additional investigation and follow-up case and contact management has revealed that the couple had indeed been in contact with a recent traveller from the UK, which is new information not provided in earlier interviews. The cases and contacts have been informed and are now in self-isolation as per public health protocols," Ontario authorities said on Sunday.

Earlier this month, UK health officials announced that the country had identified a new variant of the coronavirus that spreads faster than other Sars-Cov-2 virus strains. Many countries have suspended passenger travel to and from the United Kingdom in a bid to prevent the import of the new virus strain.

The new coronavirus variant, which infects more easily but does not appear to be more deadly or pose any concerns for vaccines, has already been detected in several countries, including Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and Australia.