OTTAWA:Canada will ban travelers who have been to Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt over concerns about the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the Toronto Star newspaper said on Tuesday, citing sources.
Canada has identified five people with the new variant, at least two of whom were recently in Nigeria. The western province of Alberta has detected at least one case of Omicron, a spokesman for premier Jason Kenney told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Last week Ottawa barred travelers who had recently been to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Canadian health officials are due to brief the media on Omicron at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2100 GMT).
The premiers of Ontario and Quebec, Canada’s two most populous provinces, are calling on Ottawa to impose tougher measures and more testing for the virus.
A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Omar Alghabra declined to comment on the Toronto Star report. A spokesman for Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos did not respond to a request for comment.
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