The federal government is now warning Canadians against all non-essential international travel in the face of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19.

"To those who were planning to travel I see very clearly, now is not the time to travel," Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Wednesday at a news conference in Ottawa.

"The rapid spread of the Omicron variant on a global scale makes us fear the worst."

The announcement came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with provincial and territorial premiers Tuesday evening to discuss how to respond to Omicron.

Duclos said the highly transmissible variant is now spreading in Canadian communities, and just about everywhere else in the world. He said that people who leave the country risk spreading the virus, and getting stranded abroad.

Ottawa has also agreed to send shipments of booster doses and rapid tests to provinces and territories to quickly ramp up vaccination campaigns to combat the virus at home.

Earlier Wednesday, Trudeau warned that people should be careful as they finish making their Christmas plans this year in light of the new variant.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland dedicated $4.5 billion in Tuesday's fiscal update to respond to the Omicron variant.

"I know that the rising threat Omicron poses is not something any of us want to be dealing with, especially now, just before the holidays," she said Wednesday.