Canada Adds 3 Countries to Omicron Travel Ban, Including Egypt

On Tuesday, Canada decided to add Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt to the list of African countries from which it is banning travellers amid concerns about the spread of COVID-19’s Omicron variant.

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 travellers 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.