TORONTO (AP) – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, probably more contagious variants of the new coronavirus, including requiring travelers to quarantine a hotel at their expense when they arrive in Canada and suspend airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30.
Trudeau said that in addition to the pre-boarding test that Canada already requires, the government will introduce mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada.
“Travelers will have to wait up to three days in an approved hotel to get the test results, at their own expense, which is expected to exceed $ 2,000,” Trudeau said.
“Those with negative test results will be able to quarantine at home with significantly higher vigilance and enforcement.”
The prime minister said those with positive evidence should immediately be quarantined at designated government facilities to ensure they do not carry variants of particular concern. .
Trudeau also said the government and major Canadian airlines have agreed to immediately suspend service to solar destinations. He said Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat are canceling air service to all Caribbean and Mexican destinations from Sunday through April 30th.
“They will make arrangements with their customers who are currently traveling through these regions to arrange their return flights,” Trudeau said.
He said that starting next week, all international passenger flights will have to land at the following four airports: Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
“Also, in the coming weeks, we will require non-essential travelers to show negative evidence before entering the land border with the U.S. and we are working to advocate for additional testing requirements for land travel,” Trudeau said.
Canada already requires those entering the country to isolate themselves for 14 days and present a negative COVID-19 test conducted in the three days prior to arrival.
The decision to set up a hotel on the way back would discourage the holiday, as people would not want to have to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense on their return.
“She is OK. It’s a shame it’s so late. That’s something they could have done decades ago, ”said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and medical director of the Sinai-University Health Network’s Antimicrobial Custody Program.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
More and more governments are thinking of ways to be more aggressive because of new variants, vaccine delays, challenges to vaccinate the population, and tensions in health systems.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, proposed that COVID-19 testing be mandatory at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport for all international travelers, according to two officials familiar with the matter. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not allowed to speak before an announcement Friday by the Ontario prime minister.