TORONTO (AP) – The Canadian government said Wednesday that passengers should take a negative COVID-19 test within three days of arriving in the country.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the measure will be implemented in the coming days.
Canada already requires those entering the country to be isolated for 14 days and has already banned all flights from the UK due to the new variant of COVID-19 extending there.
The decision came a day after the prime minister of Canada’s largest province said he had ordered his finance minister to end a Caribbean holiday he took at a time when the government was urging people to avoid travel. not essential due to the pandemic.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said Wednesday that it is “unacceptable” for Finance Minister Rod Phillips to go to the French island of St. Louis. Barts for holidays.
“We’ll have a very tough conversation when he comes back,” Ford said. “There can be no rules for elected and unelected people.”
Ford said Phillips “never told anyone” he was leaving, but Ford said he knew Phillips was out of the country “shortly after he arrived.”
“My mistake. I take full responsibility. At the time, I should have said ‘get your back to Ontario’ and I didn’t,” Ford said.
The finance minister’s Twitter account had suggested he was in Ontario while in St. Louis. Barts. In a video posted on Christmas Eve, he was shown sitting by a fireplace with a gingerbread house and a small Christmas tree and drinking eggs.
Phillips said he would return immediately.
Opposition parties called for Phillips to be removed from the cabinet.
Phillips also traveled to Switzerland in August.
“Some Canadians still travel for non-essential reasons. This is deeply worrying. We must reiterate that now is not the time to travel, “said Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy director of public health.
Ontario began a province-wide closure on Dec. 26 and Ford has accused travelers of bringing the new coronavirus to the province.
The National Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario have repeatedly asked Canadians not to travel abroad during the pandemic.
The Ford government was already being criticized for stopping vaccination operations during the holidays and for delaying a province-wide closure until the day after Christmas.
Ontario on Wednesday set a new daily record of 2,923 cases, with just over a third of them in the country’s largest city, Toronto.