Canada on Sunday has detected its first cases of the new Omicron strain of COVID-19, in two people who had traveled recently to Nigeria.
"Today, the province of Ontario has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Ottawa, both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria. Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation," Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health, said in a Sunday statement, reported news agency ANI.
According to the statement, point-of-arrival testing for COVID-19 will be encouraged for all travellers irrespective of where they are coming from. On Friday, Canada introduced a ban on foreign nationals travelling to Canada who had been to certain countries in southern Africa.
On Friday, the Canadian government announced it will ban the entry of foreigners who may have travelled through South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini in the past two weeks.
On Friday, the WHO identified the new South African strain as one of concern, since it may be more transmissible and dangerous. Cases of the new variant have already been confirmed in multiple countries and governments rushed to suspend travel with southern African nations in order to prevent the spread of the new strain.
(With inputs fro ANI)
