Canada has banned foreign travellers from Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe over concerns about the transmission of a new Covid variant.
Canada’ Health Minister, Jean-Yves Duclos announced the ban as the country follows the footsteps of countries like the United States and European Union, after the World Health Organization declared the recently detected B.1.1.529 strain of Covid-19 to be a “variant of concern,” and renamed it Omicron.
While talking during a news conference, Duclos said: “We are acting quickly in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians.”
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, said: “We know very little about this variant right now, including how transmissible it is and whether it increases severity of illness or what the impact is on the vaccine.
“But because of so many mutations in specific areas of the genome, we’re taking this precautionary measure.”
There are no direct flights to Canada from the seven African countries listed in the travel ban.
Canadian travellers who are arriving indirectly from the region must obtain a pre-flight negative Covid test and quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Canada.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the travel restrictions will be effective till January 31, 2022, while officials “assess the evolving situation.”
