EDMONTON, AB – It didn’t take long for Alberta to report its first case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Only days after it was first detected in Canada, with two positive cases in Ontario, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health confirms one person has tested positive here.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the traveler returned to the province after visiting Nigeria and the Netherlands and immediately went into quarantine.
For confidentiality reasons, Hinshaw says she won’t be releasing information about where in Alberta the Omicron case was detected.
She says one case doesn’t change the threat level in the province, adding the goal remains the same – to slow the spread of the virus in all its forms.
“The vast, vast majority of all of our cases in Alberta continue to be the Delta variant. We know that the measures we currently have in place have been effective at slowing spread and the more that we can increase our immunization rates, the better off we’ll be not just for our current Delta dominant cases but any eventuality of potentially seeing Omicron in the weeks ahead.”
On the federal front, Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi have also now been added to the travel ban list due to Omicron. The list, announced on Friday, Nov. 26, initially included seven south African nations.
