Canada confirms first cases of Omicron strain of COVID-19 in 2 travellers from Nigeria

Canada on Sunday confirmed two cases of the new highly mutated Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus in the federal capital Ottawa, the first to be found in North America, an official statement from the Ontario government’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Christine Elliott and Dr Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health confirmed on Nov. 28.

“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,” the government officials stressed.

Both cases are the recent arrivals from the African country, Nigeria, the Ontario government informed, adding that it was prepared and ready to respond to this new variant. 

Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Christine Elliott noted that the province’s COVID-19 Genomic Network is continuing to actively monitor for all potential variants circulating in the province, including the Omicron variant. The scientific body is conducting genomic sequencing on 100% of eligible COVID-19 positive samples. Since January 1, 2021, the network has sequenced over 48,000 samples, she further stated.

“I was informed today by the Public Health Agency of Canada that testing and monitoring of COVID-19 cases has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of concern in Ontario,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in a statement. 

“As the monitoring and testing continues,” he added, “it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada.”

First defence against the Omicron 'stopping it at border'

Elliott agreed, that the first defence against the Omicron variant is stopping it at the border. She urged the Canadian Prime Minister and the federal government to take the necessary steps to mandate point-of-arrival testing for all travellers irrespective of the countries that they were entering from into Canada. Speaking about healthcare preparedness, Elliott stressed that the hospitals and intensive care capacity at this time remain stable, and Ontario’s government was rapidly identifying, tracing and isolating the COVID-19 variant Omicron. 

Canada banned travellers who had visited southern African countries in the past two weeks, a regulation that came into effect on Friday. It will conduct COVID-19 RT-PCR testing on all travellers from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe that entered Canada from November 1st until December 6.

“Asymptomatic family members and other household contacts of travellers are also eligible for testing,” the health ministry informed. “We continue to urge all Ontarians to remain vigilant,” it further warned in view of Omicron’s cases detection. 

WHO asks countries to 'avoid using travel restrictions' and follow science 

In a separate development, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Sunday urged countries not to impose blanket travel restrictions on southern Africa, and wait for science, research and further studies to foster those decisions. The global health body’s statement comes after South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphos told a presser that the new variant is a “wake-up call” for global vaccine inequality, as he condemned the world for ‘discriminatory’ behaviour, and scrambling to instate the travel bans. 

Noting that such a move would prove to be detrimental for the global trade and result in economic fallout, South Africa lamented that it is being punished for its advanced scientific ability that detected the B.1.1.529 strain, declared a ‘variant of concern’ [VOC] by the WHO. South Africa purported that had any other country detected the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant, the global reaction “would have been starkly different.”

WHO's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, during Sunday’s briefing called on countries to follow science and international health regulations, and by all means, avoid using travel restrictions. 

“Travel restrictions may play a role in slightly reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods,” Moeti said in a statement. “If restrictions are implemented, they should not be unnecessarily invasive or intrusive, and should be scientifically based, according to the International Health Regulations, which is a legally binding instrument of international law recognized by over 190 nations.”