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The Government of Canada has lifted the travel ban it imposed on Nigeria and nine other African countries to curb the incursion of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in the country.
Jean-Yves Duclos, the country’s Minister of Health announced this at a media briefing on Friday, December 17, 2021.
Canada lifted the ban two weeks after it added Nigeria to its travel ban list.
Canada also lifted the travel ban on South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Malawi and Egypt.
The country had in a statement in November said the ban was imposed to “reduce the risk of the importation and transmission of COVID-19 and its variants in Canada related to international travel."
Speaking on the country's decision to lift the ban, the Canadian health minister said his country realised the controversial nature of the travel ban imposed on the 10 African nations.
He added that the lifting of the travel ban would take effect from 11:59 pm on Saturday.
He said, “With the evolving situation and overwhelming evidence of community transmission of Omicron in most countries around the world, we have taken the decision to lift the specific measures for travellers returning from the 10 countries initially listed.
“This will be in effect as of December 18, 11:59pm.
“While we recognise the controversial nature of such a prohibition, we believe it was a necessary measure to slow the arrival of Omicron in Canada and buy us some time.
“Given the current situation, this measure has served its purpose and is no longer needed.”
As of Friday, over 300 cases of Omicron are reported to have been confirmed in Canada.