The Canadian health authorities confirmed this Sunday the discovery of two individuals who tested positive for the new variant of the coronavirus baptized as omicron, after the letter of the classical Greek alphabet.
The Minister of Health of Canada, Christine Elliot, and Dr. Kieran Moore, the medical director of health, reported through a press release that the cases had been detected in Ottawa, the capital of the country, located in the province of Ontario .
[The omicron variant of the coronavirus is advancing rapidly and reaches more countries]
Both positive cases correspond to individuals who had recently traveled to Nigeria, one of the southern African countries where the transmission of this new strain, which was originally discovered in South Africa, has been detected.
A Canadian flag flies in front of the Peace Tower in Ottawa, Canada, in a 2017 file photo.Chris Wattie / REUTERS
"Our government continues to take decisive and unprecedented steps to protect the health and safety of Canadians," the officials stated in the press release.
Canadian health authorities recommended to the Canadian federal government that
all travelers arriving in the country
be
tested for COVID-19, regardless of where they come from
.
This week, Canada banned foreigners who had been to seven southern African countries in the past 14 days, a list that included South Africa but not Nigeria.
Citizens and residents of Canada who have been to any of the countries on this list, regardless of their vaccination status, will be subject to increased scrutiny, including COVID-19 testing, monitoring and quarantine measures, officials from Health.
More contagious than the delta variant?
Meanwhile, Brazilian authorities announced on Saturday that starting Monday they will close their borders to six countries in southern Africa.
Other nations such as Morocco and Israel have taken more drastic measures to contain the spread of the virus.
Morocco announced that it will suspend all incoming flights from Monday, while Israel has banned all foreigners from entering.
The new variant, which is potentially more infectious, has already been found around the world, from Hong Kong, Europe and now the American continent as well.
This Sunday, the Netherlands detected 13 cases of omicron and Australia found two.
However, the World Health Organization has recommended that borders be kept open, noting that the variant has already been detected in many countries and that
closing borders has limited impact.
While it is believed that this new strain could be more infectious than the currently prevalent delta variant due to the exponential increase in cases in South Africa, scientists warn that it is still too early to know enough about how it is will behave;
for example, if it will be more virulent or deadly.
"I think it is more contagious, considering how quickly it has spread through various districts of South Africa.
Therefore, it has the characteristic of being particularly likely to spread from one person to another ... We don't know if it can compete with delta, "Dr. Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, said in an interview with CNN.
