CANADA LIFTS ITS TRAVEL BAN ON AFRICAN COUNTRIES, REINTRODUCES COVID TESTING

Fri 17 December 2021:

Canada lifted a travel ban on foreigners from ten African countries on Friday, but reimposed testing and warned that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 could quickly overwhelm hospitals.

According to Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, the travel ban on flights from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, and Egypt will end at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday (0459 p.m. GMT Sunday).

The restriction had been announced last month “to slow the arrival of Omicron in Canada and buy us some time,” he said. But with Omicron now spreading within Canada it is “no longer needed.

” Pre-arrival negative PCR tests for all travelers would also be reinstated as of December 21, Duclos said, while repeating a government warning earlier this week that “now is not the time to travel.” Officials said laboratory tests have confirmed as of Friday nearly 350 cases of the Omicron variant across Canada.

In the meantime, the total average daily Covid case count has increased by 45 percent in the last week to around 5,000.

“It is expected the sheer number of (Omicron) cases could inundate the health system in a very short period of time,” said Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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