OTTAWA -- South Africa鈥檚 high commissioner to Canada says South African officials have requested a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to discuss the federal government鈥檚 travel measures in response to the Omicron variant.
鈥淲hy are we being punished?鈥� Sibongiseni Dlamini-Mntambo asked on CTV鈥檚 Power Play Monday. 鈥淲e just don鈥檛 understand what is happening.鈥�
Omicron was named a variant of concern by the World Health Organization earlier this month. The variant was linked to South Africa after a sharp rise in cases in the region. The Canadian government implemented new travel restrictions that ban foreign nationals who were recently in countries in southern African in the last two weeks.
Dlamini-Mntambo told CTV鈥檚 Power Play the variant 鈥渉as been picked up in quite a number of other countries鈥� but 鈥渢hese countries have not been banned.鈥�
There are currently at least five confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in Canada.
Dlamini-Mntambo reacts to Canada鈥檚 travel measures in the video at the top this article.
