First cases of Omicron variant confirmed in Canada

Picture Courtesy: The globe and mail

The first cases of Omicron Variant of Covid-19 virus were confirmed on Sunday in Ottawa, Canada. Ontario government announced Sunday.

Ottawa government released a segment saying, "Today, the province of Ontario has confirmed two cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in Ottawa, both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria. Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation.”

Canada put up travel restrictions on Friday on foreign nationals who had visited several countries in southern Africa over the preceding two weeks.

Little is known about this variant. Scientists around the world are trying to find out if this variant is more transmissible, or more dangerous than other coronavirus variants.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott and Dr. Kieran Moore, the province's chief medical officer of health released a statement on the update saying, "The best defense against the omicron variant is stopping it at our border. In addition to the measures recently announced, we continue to urge the federal government to take the necessary steps to mandate point-of-arrival testing for all travelers irrespective of where they're coming from to further protect against the spread of this new variant.”

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said, "As the monitoring and testing continue with provinces and territories, it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada.”