Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos made the announced on December 17 that beginning December 18 at 11:59 p.m Canada would be lifting the ban on international travel from the 10 countries in Africa.
For some context, Canada first implemented the ban on November 26 to seven African countries, before expanding it to to ten: South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt.
Apparently according the Canadian government, the ban that was originally set to expire on January 31 was put in place over the omicron Covid 19 variant.
Enter travel apartheid.
This move was immediately followed by internal and international criticism as it only included African countries in its ban, even though the Omicron variant had been detected in 44 countries at the time.
