The Canadian government has banned travellers from Nigeria
and nine other African countries over concerns about the spread of the Omicron
COVID-19 variant.
The country earlier announced a ban on South Africa,
Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia.
In a statement on Tuesday, it said it was expanding the
travel ban to Egypt, Nigeria, and Malawi.
“On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization
classified B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern called Omicron. Since then it has
been found in a number of countries and regions, including the confirmation of
several travel-related cases in Canada,” the statement reads.
”That is why today, the Minister of Health, the Honourable
Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, and
the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, announced additional
border measures to reduce the risk of the importation and transmission of
COVID-19 and its variants in Canada related to international travel.
“Based on data from ongoing surveillance efforts and the
latest public health advice, the Government of Canada is expanding the list of
countries with entry prohibitions originally announced on November 26, 2021, to
include Egypt, Nigeria and Malawi.
“Effective tomorrow, foreign nationals who have been in any
of these countries within the previous 14 days will not be permitted entry into
Canada: Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.”
Canada had on Sunday detected its first cases of the Omicron
variant in individuals who had ”recently travelled to Nigeria”.
On Wednesday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control
(NCDC) announced that the first cases of Omicron variant had been detected in
the country.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) designated Omicron as a
“variant of concern”, calling on global leaders to take action to contain its
spread.
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