Canada lifted a travel ban on foreigners from ten African nations on Friday, but reimposed testing and warned that the Omicron version of Covid-19 may soon overrun hospitals.

According to Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, the travel ban on planes from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, and Egypt will cease at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday (0459 p.m. GMT Sunday).

Last month, the restriction was established “to delay the entrance of Omicron in Canada and buy us some time,” he explained.
“However, now that Omicron has spread throughout Canada, it is “no longer required.”

As from December 21, all travelers will be subjected to pre-arrival negative PCR tests, according to Duclos, who also reiterated the government’s prior warning that “now is not the time to travel.”

According to officials, laboratory tests have verified approximately 350 cases of the Omicron variety across Canada as of Friday.

In the meantime, the total average daily Covid case count has increased by 45 percent in the last week to almost 5,000.

“The sheer volume of (Omicron) cases is projected to inundate the health system in a very short period of time,” said Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer.