Canada to ask people to avoid international travel amid concerns of Omicron

To battle the growing Covid cases, Canada will be advising its population to avoid international travel as much as possible. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is expected to advise Canadians to avoid non-essential international travel, claims a report by Reuters. As of now, Canada has travel bans on 10 African countries due to the Omicron variant. 

Peter Juni, director of Ontario's Covid science advisory table, urged people to take precautions and get vaccinated. He further told people to not take this variant lightly.

"What really worries me is that people are asleep at the steering wheel, internationally. They have wishful thinking it will be mild...This is not a realistic attitude," Juni said

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Earlier, Canada's top health official had said that Covid cases in Canada may see a rapid surge in the coming days due to the Omicron variant. 

There has been a massive surge of Covid cases in Ontario. This variant accounts for almost 40 per cent of Canada's population.

The Omicron variant, which was discovered in November is now spreading at an 'unprecedented' rate. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros A Ghebreyesus provided an update on the Omicron variant strain, saying that 77 nations have already reported cases of the novel strain.

As per Dr Tedros, vaccination alone will not be enough to stop the pandemic and mask use, social distancing, ventilation, and hand hygiene should be prioritised.

(With inputs from agencies)