Canada slams travel ban on Nigeria over Omicron

Canada has imposed a travel ban on Nigeria in a bid to halt the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Canada has imposed a travel ban on Nigeria in a bid to halt the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The North American country with a high influx from Nigeria announced this in the early hours of Wednesday.

In all, Canadian authorities have banned 10 countries over the new COVID variant.

They are South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt.

Canadian Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra, has said foreign nationals who had been to these countries in the previous 14 days would be temporarily banned from entering Canada.

He added that Canadians and permanent residents who have been in the 10 countries, even those who are fully vaccinated, must also be tested before entering Canada.

British Columbia also reportedly detected its first case of the new variant, with the individual having recently returned from Nigeria.

On Wednesday, the Nigeria Center for Disease and Control (NCDC) announced that two cases of Omicron variant had been detected in the country.

The World Health Organisation has described Omicron variant of COVID as “very high risk” globally and the likelihood of it spreading around the world as significant.

It is currently unknown how contagious the variant is, how dangerous or whether or not it is resistant to vaccines.