The Canadian Province’s Health Minister, Christian Dubé, on Monday, confirmed first case of COVID-19 Omicron variant in Quebec, bringing the total to three in the country.
Dubé told reporters at a briefing that 115 travellers coming from countries impacted by the new variant, primarily South Africa, were called and asked to take a new PCR test for COVID-19.
Canada had on Sunday said it had detected its first cases of the new Omicron strain of COVID-19 in two people who travelled recently to Nigeria.
“Both patients are in isolation, while the public health authorities traced their possible contacts, said Federal and Ontario Provincial Officials.
The Government of Ontario confirmed that the two cases are in the capital, Ottawa.
“As the monitoring and testing continues, it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada,” said the country’s Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, on Sunday in a statement.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed Omicron as a “variant of concern” and countries around the world are now restricting travel from Southern Africa, where the new strain was first detected, and taking other new precautions.
WHO says it could take several weeks to know if there are significant changes in transmissibility, severity or implications for COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments.
On Friday, Canada banned travel from seven African countries over concerns about the spread of the Omicron strain, and Nigeria was not one of them.
