Doug Ford calls on feds for flight ban amid new COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa | Globalnews.ca

Premier Doug Ford is calling on the federal government to impose stronger border measures such as banning flights and passengers from countries where a new COVID-19 variant of concern has been detected in South Africa.

“We cannot repeat the same mistakes that allowed the Alpha and Delta variants to enter our country. Our best defense right now is stopping this variant at the border,” Ford said in a statement issued Friday.

On Thursday, South African scientists told reporters they detected a new variant — B.1.1.529 and recently named ‘Omicron’ by the World Health Organization — that has a “very unusual constellation” of mutations, which are concerning because they could help it evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible.

Britain and the EU have tightened border controls and imposed travel restrictions to the area.

Ford said after being briefed by Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore about the new variant that he has contacted the federal government to express “my extreme concern about the risk it poses and the need for immediate action.”

“Until we can be certain that the vaccines are effective against this new variant, I am calling on the Government of Canada to follow other governments by immediately banning all flights and passengers from countries of concern,” Ford continued.

Early signs from diagnostic laboratories suggest the variant has rapidly increased in the most populous South African province of Gauteng and may already be present in the country’s other eight provinces, they said.

South Africa has confirmed around 100 specimens as B.1.1.529, but the variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong case involving a traveller from South Africa. As many as 90 per cent of new cases in Gauteng could be B.1.1.529, scientists believe.

Meanwhile, Ford said anyone arriving should be tested and quarantined, including passengers arriving as early as Friday.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we must also reintroduce point-of-arrival testing for all passengers arriving to Canada, regardless of where they’re coming from,” Ford said.

“I’ve asked the Chief Medical Officer of Health and Public Health Ontario to immediately implement expanded surveillance and update scenario planning to ensure we are ready for any outcome.”

— with files from Reuters.

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