‘Nothing is off the table’: Canada to make announcement on COVID-19 travel restrictions in coming days

By CityNews Staff

The federal government appears set to implement new travel restrictions as it attempts to prevent a COVID-19 spike as more cases of highly contagious variants pop up around the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government won’t hesitate to tighten our borders and that an announcement will be made in the coming days.

“When it comes to protecting you and your family, nothing is off the table,” Trudeau said Tuesday.

The Prime Minister did not go into specifics but did note that the government has to be careful to make sure any restrictions on non-essential travel don’t inadvertently impact our supply chains, noting many passenger jets carry commercial goods.

“The vast majority of all of our cases in Canada come from community transmission but obviously even one case is too many on importation,” Trudeau added.

“And we are looking at even further restrictions on travel, which we’re looking at very carefully to ensure that they’re the right ones, that they’re effective, and that they keep Canadians safe.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday that they were “looking seriously” at tougher travel measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandatory hotel quarantines for air travellers returning from non-essential trips abroad.

“I would like to stress that we are taking this measure very, very seriously. We are considering the issue very, very seriously,” Freeland said in a news conference Monday in response to a question about the potential quarantine rule.

Freeland’s remarks, given in French, build on Trudeau’s publicly expressed openness earlier this month to tighter restrictions, sparking questions about how a stricter isolation regime would work.

Successful pandemic repellers from South Korea to Australia require 14-day hotel quarantines for passengers arriving from abroad.

In New Zealand, which had 64 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday, passengers head straight to a “managed isolation facility” – a hotel – if they have no symptoms or a “quarantine facility” if they do.

In South Korea, most non-residents must self-isolate for two weeks at a government-designated facility at their own expense and download a tracking app to ensure compliance.

The federal government has not consulted with the airline industry about more stringent measures, said Mike McNaney, head of the National Airlines Council of Canada.

“There’s been no reach-out,” added Air Transat spokesman Christophe Hennebelle.

If implemented, the quarantine requirement would serve to deter leisure travel, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious-disease physician at St. Joseph’s hospital in Hamilton, Ont., and an associate professor at McMaster University.

Rather than rigid adherence to two weeks of isolation, the move should include scheduled testing that might allow guests who come up negative to go home early, he said.

“Whether or not it has to be the entire 14 days or a shorter amount followed by testing is still up in the air,” Chagla said.

Most cases are detectable after seven days – including mutated strains of the virus – he added, citing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About two percent of cases with “known exposure” have been linked to international travel, and an even smaller proportion in recent weeks, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

However, there is still virtually no testing at the border and many recent cases do not have an identified source.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday the government should consider mandatory hotel quarantines as well as outright bans on non-essential overseas travel, which Quebec Premier Francois Legault has also called for.

“It’s more difficult to travel within your own province or frankly within Canada; than it is to jump on a flight and travel across the world. So some measure to limit non-essential air travel – I think there’s a strong case to be made,” Singh said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called on Trudeau to mandate testing of all arrivals, by air and land, saying he had confidence Ottawa would require it.

“But we need it now,” Ford said. “Every time I look up in the sky I’m thinking, ‘How many cases are coming in?”’

More than 150 international flights with confirmed COVID-19 cases have touched down in Canada in the past two weeks, according to figures from the public health agency.

The infected arrivals come despite new rules effective Jan. 7 that require passengers returning from abroad to show proof of negative results on a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure.

Canada has also barred most foreigners from entering the country since March and requires two weeks of self-isolation at home upon return.

With files from The Canadian Press

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