Canada’s health minister says restrictions on travellers from 10 African countries is being lifted. Jean-Yves Duclos says they will be removed as of tomorrow, but are re-introducing the requirement for a pre-arrival PCR test for people leaving the country for less than 72 hours.

He once again cautioned Canadians to avoid international travel, and says on-arrival testing of travel testing continues ramping up.

Canada’s chief public health officer continues warning about the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. Dr. Theresa Tam says it is a real concern. She says they are still studying the severity profile of the Omicron variant but if it replaces Delta its expected the sheer number of cases could inundate the health system in a short period of time.

She says there are more than 200 confirmed Omicron cases in 11 provinces across the country.

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