Chief Public Health Officer Dr Theresa Tam has disclosed that Canada is reconsidering its travel ban on 10 African countries after calls have been made for the ban to be lifted, and questions asked over the rationale of the government in the face of the increasing transmission of the Omicron variant globally.
According to Tam, it’s “a policy that needs to be revisited.”
She said: “There is an active examination of that situation seeing this virus is in many countries.”
On November 26, the government first restricted travellers from seven African countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini) from coming into Canada. The government cited rates of community transmission of Omicron. The restriction was later extended to Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt.
The policy prohibits the entry into Canada of every foreign national that travelled to these African countries in the last 14 days. Canadians, permanent residents and those who have the right to come back to Canada have still been able to fly back but are encountering new testing and must stay in a government quarantine facility when they arrive.
Tam revealed that though the Public Health Agency of Canada has discovered a higher test-positivity rate from particular countries on the list, she feels it’s “very important” for federal officials to “re-examine that policy.”
While answering questions which borders on the ongoing scientific basis for these measures when other countries have lifted their bans and there are high rates of Omicron widespread in other countries that were not banned like the United Kingdom, Tam’s deputy, Dr. Howard Njoo, could not say the rationale behind that.
Njoo said: ‘We’re obviously monitoring the situation. We have sort of the data. We’re seeing what’s happening both here in Canada domestically, internationally and that data, that advice information is given to ministers.”
“Ministers in the Cabinet, the prime minister, everyone is looking at all of that data and taking other factors into account and carefully considering and potentially, like I say, other decisions may be forthcoming.”
