The federal government introduced travel restrictions on Friday to help combat a worrying new COVID-19 “variant of concern” first detected in southern Africa, City News Everywhere reports.
The new measures put forth by federal officials are in effect immediately and will ban the entry of foreign nationals who have visited seven southern African nations in the last two weeks.
“We are acting quickly in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians,” said Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos.
The countries affected by the new ban include South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Eswatini. Anyone who has recently travelled to any of the nations is being asked to immediately self-isolate and get a COVID-19 test.
In addition, Canadians and permanent residents returning from the seven countries will be tested on arrival and will need to quarantine until they get result of negative test. If they receive a negative test they can finish their quarantine at home. They will have to be tested again on their eighth day of quarantine.
“To implement this we will be working with provinces and territories,” said Duclos. “We are in touch with them.”
Global Affairs Canada is issuing a travel advisory asking all Canadians to avoid travel to the region. Currently there are no direct flights from southern Africa to Canada.
