Canada is expected to reinstate its advisory against all non-essential travel outside the country while reversing relaxations like those for foreign nationals entering the country, due to the potential impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, a development the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as “scary” on Tuesday.
These moves are expected after Trudeau held an emergency conference call with premiers of Canada’s provinces and territories on Tuesday evening as Omicron threatens to disrupt the holiday season in the country.
In an interview with the outlet Red FM on Tuesday, Justin Trudeau said, “This Omicron variant is scary. And it’s the last thing anyone needs, to have to worry, again, about another wave.”
However, he added that with greater vaccination uptake including booster and paediatric doses along with health-related precautions, Canada would “make it through this winter and into a much better summer”.
National Omicron figures were not provided, but the country’s most populous province Ontario reported that the variant now accounts for 30.8% cases of new daily infections with the doubling time at just three days. Ontario health officials expected the variant to account for nearly all new cases by January next year.
More worryingly, the province’s Science Advisory Table placed the reproductive or R rate at 4.01, far higher than that for Delta, which was at 1.09.
There were 4,336 fresh cases of all Covid-19 infections on Tuesday and Canada’s chief public health officer Dr Theresa Tam tweeted that eight provinces had reported higher numbers, making “for a national weekly increase of 30%”.
