Canadian officials holding update on Omicron variant

OTTAWA —
Federal ministers and public health officials will be providing an update later today on the latest measures Canada is taking in response to the Omicron variant.

After discussing the latest in the evolving situation surrounding Omicron at a closed-door cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters that the government would have more to say soon.

• The press conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT. You can watch live here at CTVNews.ca or on the CTV News app.

Five known cases of the variant of concern have been confirmed in this country so far, with public health officials cautioning that more cases will likely be discovered in the coming days.

On Friday, after the World Health Organization named Omicron a variant of concern, Canada banned the entry of all foreign nationals who recently travelled through southern Africa and asked all who had recently returned to quarantine and be tested for COVID-19.

Over the last few days questions have emerged over whether Canada should be imposing further travel restrictions or bans from more countries, or broadening its COVID-19 booster shot administration approach in wake of the growing threat.

“Obviously we’re watching very, very closely the situation with Omicron,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on his way into the cabinet meeting. “There may be more we need to do and we’ll be looking at it very carefully.”

While Ontario and Quebec are the first provinces to confirm detected cases of the variant, health officials across the country have commenced targeted testing of people who have travelled from one of the seven southern African countries under the current federal travel restrictions.

Omicron has been linked to a rapid rise in cases in South Africa where vaccination rates are low compared to Canada, and health officials have said that it remains unclear just how transmissible and severe infection by the highly-mutated variant B.1.1.529 might be.

With files from CTV News’ Nicole Bogart and Hannah Jackson