Judging that the new variant of the COVID-19 virus spotted in South Africa is “very worrying”, François Legault in turn urges the Trudeau government to ban flights from this country, as well as to ban the entry into the country of all passengers who have passed through it.
“We have to go as quickly as possible. Everything must be done to have as little as possible of this variant. I ask that it stop now, ”hammered the Prime Minister during a press conference held on the sidelines of the Great Economic Circle of Indigenous Peoples in Montreal, Friday. “It’s really scary,” he insisted.
Potentially very contagious and with multiple mutations, the identification of this new variant was first announced Thursday in South Africa. A case has since been detected in Hong Kong, Israel in a person returning from Malawi, and also in Belgium.
While Quebec surpassed the 1,000 COVID-19 case mark on Friday, the Prime Minister reiterated that Quebec “remains around 200 hospitalizations, which is four to five times less than what we see in the States -United “. He says “with all my heart” that he can allow all the families to come together for Christmas.
To get there, “you have to be careful, you have to respect the instructions,” once again implored Mr. Legault, who promises announcements on the measures that will apply during the holidays “in the coming weeks”.
Mr. Legault does not intend for the moment to request an interruption of flights with Belgium, the first European state to report a case, or with Hong Kong and Israel. “We have no indications that there are many in Belgium at the moment. We will also have to see if the person who had the variant was from South Africa, ”he said.
It all comes as in a statement on Friday, Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole also said we must act quickly to prevent Canadians from being affected. He also calls for a suspension of flights to and from South Africa, but also Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. “We have little time to act, and we must do it now,” said the Conservative leader.
The Conservative premiers of Alberta and Ontario quickly echoed Mr. O’Toole’s comments. In similar statements, Jason Kenney and Doug Ford called on the federal government not to make the same “mistakes” as at the start of the pandemic by letting the Alpha and Delta variants enter the country. The Bloc Québécois also demanded similar immediate measures.