156 Albertans in quarantine after returning from southern Africa countries
There are 156 Albertans in quarantine after returning from countries in southern Africa over fears of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Premier Jason Kenney said Monday.
No cases have been identified in the province, he added.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said on Sunday Alberta Health is working with officials across the country to monitor the spread of the altered virus.
Canada has imposed a travel ban on several countries in southern Africa, including South Africa, Estwatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia.
Foreign nationals who have travelled to any of those countries in the past 14 days will not be permitted entry into Canada.
"Public health officials have contacted individuals in Alberta who have travelled from one of the countries of interest in the past 14 days," said Hinshaw.
"These individuals must take precautionary actions to quarantine for 14 days from their return date and get tested."
There have been at least two cases of the Omicron variant detected in Ottawa, are both in people who travelled from Nigeria, which is not yet on the list of countries affected by the travel ban. There is one confirmed case in Quebec as well.
That list is expected to expand as G7 health ministers are holding an emergency meeting on Monday to deal with the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
The strain has been detected in over a dozen countries around the globe, including Canada.
Hinshaw also said the Omicron variant re-enforces the need for Albertans to be vaccinated.
"This is a reminder of how important getting the vaccine is, as having a complete vaccination series has historically provided a high level of protection against severe outcomes even with new variants of concern," she said.
Infectious disease expert Isaac Bogosh agrees, telling CTV it's unlikely the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will completely defeat the vaccines protective effects.
"We’ll see to what extent, if any, there's erosion of protection from immunity, but I don’t think you are going to have a variant that emerges overnight that suddenly erases completely the protective benefit we have seen from vaccines at this point," he said.
University of Calgary infectious disease specialist Dr. Craig Jenne says there isn’t enough data to determine what type of impact the new variant will have.
“We need to be watching how this moves through communities, how it moves through vaccinated or doesn't move through vaccinated people, before we really know what the impact of those mutations will be,” said Jenne.
He adds that now is not the time for government and health officials to lower its guard, suggesting travel restrictions will not be enough.
“What it might do is it might slow it down if we have restrictions to the hotspots where there's lots of virus,” he said.
“But it's a double-edged sword because if we rely on those as our principle line of defense, these travel restrictions, sometimes it means we're letting our guard down on other fronts.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that it is not yet clear if the new Omicron coronavirus variant is more transmissible than other variants. It is also unclear if it causes more severe disease.
"Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with omicron," said WHO officials in a statement.
PCR testing does detect the Omicron variant and studies are still underway to see if rapid antigen tests are capable of detecting the mutated virus.
Also on Monday, Hinshaw announced 806 new cases of COVID-19 identiifed over the weekend, including 325 on Friday, 253 on Saturday and 228 on Sunday. As well, seven new deaths were reported over the weekend.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.