Canada has lifted the travel ban on Nigeria and nine other countries in Africa.
The nine other countries are Zimbabwe, Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
It should be recalled that Canada extended the travel ban to Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi on December 1 amid worries over the spread of the Omicron variant.
The ban followed the detection of cases of Omicron in two people that had travelled to Nigeria.
The development was announced by Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos during a recent news conference. While making the announcement, the Minister said the lifting of the travel ban would take effect from 11:59 p.m. on December 18, 2021.
Canada also reintroduced testing and made it known that the Omicron variant was quickly overwhelming hospitals.
Duclos said: “The restriction had been announced last month to slow the arrival of Omicron in Canada and buy us some time
“But with Omicron now spreading within Canada it is no longer needed.
“Pre-arrival negative PCR tests for all travellers would also be reinstated as of December 21.
