In a bid to halt the spread of the newly discovered Omicron variant, the Canadian government has imposed travel ban on Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi.
The ban came two days after Canada detected its first cases of the Omicron variant in two people who travelled recently to Nigeria.
In all, the country banned 10 countries over the new Covid variant. These countries are South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Egypt, Eswatini and Nigeria.
Omar Alghabra, Canadian Transport Minister said foreign nationals who had been to any of the 10 countries in the last 14 days would be banned from entering Canada temporarily. He added that Canadian nationals and permanent residents who have been in these countries, even those who are fully vaccinated would be tested before entering the country.
It is currently unknown how contagious the variant is, how dangerous it is, or whether or not it is resistant to vaccines.
The World Health Organization has described the variant as very high globally and the likelihood of it spreading around the world is significant.
