The first two Canadian cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in Ontario. Provincial and federal officials confirmed the news late Sunday afternoon.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliot said the two cases were identified in the Ottawa area and were returning from a trip to Nigeria.
Ms Elliot and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Kieran Moore said in a statement that Ottawa Public Health is doing case and contact management, and patients are being placed in segregation.
The federal government recently banned travelers from seven countries in southern Africa from entering the country. Nigeria, which is more in West Africa, was not on the list.
Ms Elliot and Dr Moore urged the federal government to take the necessary steps to make point-of-arrival screening mandatory for all travelers, regardless of their origin, to better protect against the spread of this new variant.
The Ontario government says it is ready to respond to the arrival of the new variant. “Our hospital and intensive care capacities remain stable and the province continues to report one of the lowest rates of active cases in the country,” said Ms. Elliot and Dr. Moore.
They recalled that the Ontario COVID-19 Genomic Network was performing genomic sequencing of 100% of eligible samples positive for COVID-19.
For his part, Federal Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos says he was made aware of the situation by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
According to him, the rapid identification of these two cases demonstrated the effectiveness of the surveillance system in the country.
Mr. Duclos wanted to reassure the population by declaring “that vaccination, in concert with public health and personal protection measures, is effective in reducing the transmission of COVID-19 and its variants in communities”.
He cautioned, however, that more cases of the Omicron variant are to be expected in Canada.