Toronto 
Canada’s first cases of the new COVID-19 variant of concern, Omicron were detected in Ontario.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, and Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health announced through a statement, “Today, the province of Ontario has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Ottawa, both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria. Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation.”
“The best defence against the Omicron variant is stopping it at our border. In addition to the measures recently announced, we continue to urge the federal government to take the necessary steps to mandate point-of-arrival testing for all travellers irrespective of where they’re coming from to further protect against the spread of this new variant.”
The province says in order to rapidly identify, trace and isolate COVID-19 and its variants, Ontario has already expanded eligibility for provincially-funded COVID-19 PCR testing at all testing centres to individuals who have returned from, or travelled in, the following locations between November 1st and December 6th, 2021: South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Asymptomatic family members and other household contacts of travellers are also eligible for testing.
The province is asking anyone experiencing symptoms, to get tested for COVID-19 and book an appointment for a booster dose, if eligible.
Today, Ontario reported 964 new cases of COVID-19.
86.3% of eligible Ontarians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
