Coronavirus in Canada: New, stricter, pricier rules for travellers
‘Now is not the time to be flying’. In what appears to be a measure to curb non-essential travel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says all travellers will pay more than $2000 for mandatory COVID-19 hotel quarantine. He also announced that starting next week, all international passenger flights must land at the following four airports: Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing (nasal swab testing) at the airport for people returning to Canada. The move to require a hotel stay upon return would discourage vacations as people would not want to have to quarantine at a hotel at their own expense upon return.
The Ontario government says that international travellers will have to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing at the province’s major airport as of Monday, weeks before the federal government is expected to implement its own policy Canada-wide.
Canadian airlines have suspended flights to ‘all Caribbean destinations and Mexico’. The Prime Minister announced that Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat have all agreed to cancel air services to “all Caribbean destinations and Mexico,” starting Sunday. The cancellations will continue until April 30, Trudeau added.
Moderna joins Pfizer in cutting back on COVID-19 vaccine delivery. Coronavirus vaccine supplier is expected to ship between 20-25 per cent less product to Canada in February than originally planned. However, Trudeau says new export controls Europe is imposing on COVID-19 vaccines produced there won’t affect Canada, and he expects Pfizer and Moderna to catch up on their deliveries before long.
New modelling data released by Ontario health officials suggests that while COVID-19 cases are declining, the new highly-contagious U.K. variant poses a significant threat and will likely be the dominant strain of the disease in the province by March.
~WakenyaCanada
