The provincial government of Ottawa issued a travel health notice Thursday, urging its citizens traveling to Rio de Janeiro to watch the Olympic Games to take precautions against the Zika virus.
The Olympic Games will kick off in three weeks.
Ottawa’s travel health notice advises Canadians to register their travel plans with the federal government in case of emergency. The notice also highly recommends that citizens purchase comprehensive travel health insurance—in particular, travelers should purchase policies for terms longer than the number of days they plan to stay for the Olympics.
The notice also asks travelers to actively protect themselves from mosquitos bites at all times, as the insects act as vectors for the Zika virus.
The Zika virus causes symptoms similar to the flu but has been closely associated with the medical condition known as microcephaly—a condition that causes abnormally small heads in fetuses and newborns. Pregnant women carrying the ZIka virus have almost always given birth to infants suffering from microcephaly.
On a separate health notice, the provincial government has urged pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant to altogether avoid traveling to Rio. The government also recommends that travelers always carry on their person contact information for the Canadian Embassy and consulate generals in Brazil.
The provincial government additionally advises citizens to exercise “a high degree of caution” in Brazil “due to high crime rates and regular incidents of gang-related and other violence in urban areas,” reported
CTV News.
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