Canada to ask air arrivals to take COVID tests except on U.S. flights

OTTAWA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Canada, seeking to halt the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, will require people arriving by air from all nations except the United States to take a COVID-19 test, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said on Tuesday.

Canada has identified seven people with the new variant, at least four of whom were recently in Nigeria.

"All air travelers coming from outside Canada, apart from the United States, will now need to be tested at the airport (where) they are landing in Canada," Duclos told a briefing.

"We don't know if it would need to be done," he said, adding no decision had been taken.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said foreign nationals who had been to Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt in the previous 14 days would be temporarily banned from entering Canada.

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