The new variant of the coronavirus continues its world tour. Canada also announced on Sunday that it had detected the Omicron variant for the first time on its soil, in two people who recently traveled to Nigeria.
The two patients, the first detected on the American continent, were isolated in Ottawa and health authorities are looking for their possible contacts, announced the government of the province of Ontario (southeast). “Monitoring and testing are continuing,” said Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos. “We expect to find more cases of this variant in Canada.”
Borders closed to seven African countries
Canada closed its borders to travelers from seven African countries on Friday due to the appearance of the Omicron variant. Nigeria was not among these countries.
The World Health Organization has classified Omicron as a “variant of concern”. Many countries have suspended or restricted travel to southern Africa, where the new strain was first discovered. According to the WHO, it may take several weeks to determine the changes caused by Omicron in terms of contagiousness and severity of the disease, and its implications for vaccines, tests and treatments.