Canada: More Flights Cancelled due to Omicron, New Restrictions Revealed

Canada cancelled more flights, on Monday, over hike in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant became further entrenched in the country.

Reports revealed that Ontario recorded more than 9,800 new cases of the virus yesterday, Quebec counted roughly 8,000, and in Nova Scotia, more than 1,100 were confirmed over the weekend.

New restrictions went into force in Quebec, capping private gatherings at six people or two household bubbles, according to the reports.

An increasing number of athletes who tested positive for the virus led Curling Canada to cancel the Olympic mixed doubles trials yesterday.

Meanwhile, public health experts expect case counts to continue to climb, given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant.

Accordingly, the situation has renewed their concerns about the capacity of Canada’s hospitals and healthcare workers to handle another wave of the pandemic.

In the same vein, thousands of Christmas Eve flights were canceled globally at the last minute because of the recent spike of Omicron cases.

The New York Times reported that United Airlines canceled at least 150 flights scheduled to leave dozens of airports on Friday — along with 44 more that were supposed to take off on Saturday, according to Flight Aware.

In like manner, dozens of flights were also canceled in Australia in the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne as coronavirus cases surged to their highest since the start of the pandemic.