Canadian Province confirms first COVID-19 Omicron cases from returning Nigerians

The Canadian Province of Ontario on Sunday announced its first cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant “both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria.”

This was contained in a statement jointly issued by Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott and Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer of health.

“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,” the statement said.

This discovery came in the wake of the implementation of new travel restrictions on foreign nationals who had visited several countries in southern Africa over the preceding two weeks.

Read also: Omicron COVID-19 not in Nigeria —Govt

Those travel restrictions went into effect on Friday. The Omicron variant was first identified by South African researchers and has provoked global concern.

Little is known about the new variant, dubbed omicron by the World Health Organization and labelled as a variant of concern. It was being linked to a rapid rise of cases in a South African province.

“The best defence against the omicron variant is stopping it at our border. In addition to the measures recently announced, we continue to urge the federal government to take the necessary steps to mandate point-of-arrival testing for all travellers irrespective of where they’re coming from to further protect against the spread of this new variant,” the statement revealed.

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