KITCHENER -- Region of Waterloo Public Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak in a cohort at Sunnyside Public School after two cases were linked.

According to a news release, the investigation found a case that was in the same cohort as a case reported last week. Officials also identified a staff member and directed them to self-isolate.

Officials are now treating every COVID-19 case as a potential variant of concern before a variant is identified.

In a little more than a week, there have been six cases identified at the school.

You can track every case in publicly funded schools using our online case tracker.

Public health officials are working to identify high-risk contacts and are conducting enhanced case and contact management in an effort to slow the spread.

This is the second active school outbreak in the region. The other is at St. John Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener, where officials have identified 12 cases so far.

Public school board officials have reported more than two dozen cases so far this month. The Catholic school board, meanwhile, has reported more than a dozen.