As of Friday, lab tests have confirmed nearly 350 cases of Omicron in Canada, officials said. (file)
Ottawa:
Canada on Friday announced the lifting of restrictions on foreign travelers from 10 African countries, while reimposing testing and warnings that the omicron version of Covid-19 has an early impact on hospitals.
The travel ban on flights from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt will end at 11:59 pm on Saturday (0459 GMT Sunday), Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told a news release. Told conference.
The ban was announced last month to “slow down Omicron’s arrival in Canada and buy us some time”. But with Omicron now spreading to Canada, “it’s no longer needed.”
Duclos reiterated a government warning earlier this week that “now is not the time to travel.”
As of Friday, lab tests have confirmed about 350 cases of the Omicron variant across Canada, officials said.
Meanwhile, the total average daily COVID case count has increased by 45 per cent to around 5,000 in the last one week.
“The expectation is that the number of (Omicron) cases can overwhelm the health system in a very short period of time,” Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said.
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