As the world continues to forge ahead in the pandemic, a new wave of fears has been generated.
Following the confirmation of the Omicron a new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 declared by the World Health Organization ‘variant of concern’ on 26 November 2021, confirmed in over ten countries, Canada on Tuesday banned travellers from Egypt, Nigeria and Malawi over fears of the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
“Foreign nationals who have transited or stayed in these 10 countries cannot enter Canada if they have been in those countries in the last two weeks,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told a press conference. To take effect Wednesday.
Any Canadians or permanent residents who have been in any of the 10 countries will need to quarantine on arrival and take a Covid test, guardian reports.
Duclos also said “in the coming days,” all air travelers arriving from outside Canada, apart from the United States, will be made to undergo tested for Covid-19 at their point of entry, and isolate until their test results are available.
“The pandemic is not over,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra added. “Travel measures could change at any moment.”
Canada on Friday banned entry to all travelers from seven southern African countries: Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
On Sunday, Canada confirmed it had detected its first cases of the new Omicron strain, in two people who had traveled recently to Nigeria.
The WHO warned on Tuesday that travel bans will not prevent the spread of the new variant, after some 50 countries put similar measures in place.
Canada has reported a total of 1,791,902 coronavirus cases and 29,681 deaths.
