Adds particulars from media briefing Dec 30 (Reuters) - Can
Adds particulars from media briefing
Dec 30 (Reuters) – Canada will quickly require that air vacationers check unfavourable for COVID-19 earlier than arrival, federal ministers mentioned on Wednesday, after social media pictures of maskless vacationers prompted a name for stricter measures to curb the virus.
“Canada will shortly implement the requirement for all arriving passengers to have a unfavourable PCR COVID check three days earlier than arriving in Canada,” mentioned Dominic LeBlanc, intergovernmental affairs minister, at a media briefing.
Invoice Blair, minister of public security, later mentioned the brand new requirement would apply to air passengers, whereas the federal authorities is working with provinces on easy methods to complement sturdy measures with further testing at Canada’s land borders. He mentioned the federal authorities will focus on the measure with the airline business and share extra particulars quickly.
Canada reported a complete of 565,506 instances of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, 6,442 greater than the day earlier than, as new instances surged throughout western Canada, Ontario and Quebec.
The pre-boarding testing won’t remove the requirement for folks arriving within the nation to quarantine for 14 days, Blair mentioned.
“We strongly advise in opposition to all discretionary journey,” mentioned Blair, whereas noting that Canadian governments can’t cease residents who select to journey from returning house. Vacationers who break quarantine withstand six months in jail or as much as C$750,000 in fines.
On Tuesday, Quebec urged the federal authorities to require COVID-19 testing for residents coming back from year-end holidays.
Canada’s journey restrictions are among the many world’s hardest, with non-essential foreigners usually denied entry and residents coming back from overseas mandated to quarantine.
Canadian well being authorities have discovered sufferers with the extra transmissible variant of the coronavirus first present in the UK and South Africa in 4 provinces, together with Ontario. Many of the sufferers just lately traveled to the UK, in accordance with media stories, and two had contact with a latest traveler.
(Reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto; Enhancing by Richard Chang)
(([email protected]; +1 416 941 8196; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the writer and don’t essentially mirror these of Nasdaq, Inc.