Two cases of Omicron variant detected in Canada, according to government

Medical staff unload a patient from a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130J Hercules transport plane that took off from Saskatoon, after the province of Saskatchewan announced it would send patients with coronavirus disease ( COVID-19) from overloaded intensive care units to Ontario hospitals in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on October 28, 2021. REUTERS / Lars Hagberg

TORONTO, Nov.28 (Reuters) – Two cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, first detected in southern Africa last week, have been confirmed in Canada, provincial health officials said on Sunday.

The cases were reported in two people who recently traveled to Nigeria, the Ontario government said in a statement.

Omicron’s detection has raised global alarms as governments around the world scramble to impose new travel restrictions and markets sell off over fears the variant will withstand vaccinations and upset a nascent economic reopening after a two-year global pandemic.

Canada on Friday closed its borders to foreign travelers who recently traveled to seven southern African countries in the previous two weeks to help stop the spread of the newly identified variant of COVID-19.

“Today, the province of Ontario confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Ottawa, both of which have been reported in people who have recently traveled from Nigeria. Ottawa Public Health is handling cases and contacts and patients are in isolation, ”the statement said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible than other variants, or if it causes more serious illness. Read more

Written by Amran Abocar; Editing by Karishma Singh

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