Doug Ford calls new COVID-19 variant concerning as Canada implements travel ban

Canada is implementing travel restrictions on all flights from southern Africa for the next two months after a discovery of a new variant of concern.

The announcement comes hours after Ontario Premier Doug Ford publicly called for a ban.

This is a breaking news update. Previous story follows.

Premier Doug Ford is calling on Ottawa to ban all flights and passengers from countries that are linked to the newly discovered variant of concern found in Africa.

On Friday, Ford released a statement in response to the B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong.