Two cases of the variant identified in South Africa have already been detected in the province of Ontario.

Omicron variant Canada

Canadian officials said this Sunday that the Omicron variant that causes COVID-19 has already reached North America, after identifying two cases in Ottawa, Ontario province.

A joint statement from Ontario’s top health officials, Christine Elliott and Kieran Moore, details that two people who had recently been to Nigeria tested positive for the variant.

Canadian authorities conduct a contact tracing of those who tested positive to determine if there are more people infected.

ISOLATE THE TWO PASSENGERS

“The Public Health Agency of Canada informed me that testing and monitoring of COVID-19 cases have confirmed two cases of the worrying Omicron variant in Ontario,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in a statement. .

“As testing and monitoring continues,” he added, “other cases of this variant are expected to be found in Canada.”

Health officials said their strategy is to prevent as many Omicron cases as possible from entering Canada.

Just on Friday, the World Health Organization announced that South African researchers discovered a new causative variant of COVID-19, which they called Ómicron, and classified it as “worrisome” because of its more than 30 mutations that are thought to make it in highly transmissible.

Several countries of the European Union, in addition to the United States and Canada, announced restrictions on flights from South Africa and other African nations. 

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