Canada has banned travellers from Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi over fears of the transmission of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, bringing the number of African countries banned to 10.
While talking during a press conference, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said: “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.”
The government said the measure takes effect immediately.
Any Canadian or permanent resident that has been in any of the 10 countries will have to quarantine on arrival and run a Covid test.
Also, Duclos said “in the coming days,” every air traveller coming from outside Canada, apart from the United States, will need to be tested for Covid-19 at the point of entry, and isolate till his or her test result is available.
It should be recalled that Canada recently banned entry for all travellers from seven southern African countries: Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
And after the ban, Canada confirmed it had discovered its first cases of the new variant, in two people that recently travelled to Nigeria.
