Omicron variant: Canada bans entry from 7 southern African nations

Toronto: Due to increasing threat of Omicron variant of Covid-19, the Canadian government has barred all non-Canadians who have been in seven southern African nations over the past 14 days from entering the country.

This measure will be in place till January 31, 2022 as concerns over the new variant rise globally after the World Health Organization classified it as one of “concern”. No cases related to this variant have been detected in Canada as yet.

These measures come as Canada experiences an increase in new infections, tracking the progress of the pandemic in Europe. The period between November 18 and 25 marked an increase of 9% in average daily cases, as 2,608. Canada recorded 3,055 new infections on Friday, taking the total to 1,782,171 including 29,618 deaths.