Health officials in Canada have issued a statement to confirm the detection of two cases of Omicron, a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus.
Both cases have been traced to two people that travelled to Nigeria.
A statement issued by the government of Ontario said: “Today, the province of Ontario has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Ottawa, both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria. Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation.”
This came a few days after Canada closed its borders to foreign travellers from no fewer than seven Southern African nations in a bid to curb the spread of the newly identified Covid-19 variant, also known as the B.1.1.529 variant. The seven African nations are South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia.
The border closure will be in place till 31 January 2022.
Omicron is labelled as a “Variant of Concern” by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and it has sent health experts, scientists, and governments into research to figure out the threat the disease poses, and if it will be more than that of its dominant predecessor Delta, which had a high transmission rate and responsible for deadly waves in different parts of the world.
Also, WHO noted that it remains unclear whether Omicron has a higher rate of transmission than other variants, or if it could cause more severe disease.
While confirming the detection of the variant, the WHO said: “In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.”
