Canada is unlikely to change its on-arrival PCR testing rules anytime soon, says federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. Speaking to the media on Monday, Duclos said the Omicron variant is still too severe to drop mandatory COVID-19 tests for air travellers arriving in Canada. Duclos said the surge propelled by the Omicron variant remains “a great concern” both in Canada and internationally, The Toronto Star reports. “At the moment, it’s not going to happen,” Duclos said in French when asked Monday about dropping the testing requirement for people who fly into Canada. “We are probably, in Canada, not even at Read more
Canada
In yet another blow for Canadians wishing to travel, and for the Canadian travel industry, Canada has been removed from the European Union’s Safe Travel list. The EU regularly updates its list of countries that are safe for travel into Europe. Their latest update, which took place on Monday, Feb. 17, removed Canada from that list, as well as Argentina and Australia. “Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which Read more
A major winter storm and the biggest snowfall in some time is wreaking havoc with air travel in Eastern Canada and the Northeast United States today. Toronto Pearson stats show that, as of 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 75.98% of the 333 scheduled departures had been cancelled, while 72.83% of 346 arrivals were cancelled. Toronto was hit with nearly two feet of snow Sunday night and into Monday afternoon, and heavy winds were making things that much tougher Monday afternoon. FlightAware.com was showing that 48% of flights were cancelled at Ottawa’s international airport as of 5 p.m., while Montreal-Trudeau was at Read more
Chief Medical Officers of Health for Air Canada, Toronto Pearson, and WestJet are calling on Canadian governments to shift PCR testing from airports to communities. In a letter to Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and senior health officials in the federal and Ontario governments, the health officers said tests are needed at the community level and not for travellers. “Over the last two months, Omicron has quickly become the predominant variant of COVID-19. As it spreads throughout our communities, we need to ensure Canada’s limited testing resources are being used where Canadians need them most—to support our communities, schools, hospitals Read more
There’s growing evidence that Canada is open to changing its on-arrival testing program for international air travellers. A prominent tourism and business group yesterday called for on-arrival tests to be scrapped, arguing they’re not necessary and that tests should be redeployed to help make up for test shortages in Canadian communities. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, said later in the day that the policy will be evaluated “over time.” “It is a capacity drain on the system as a whole,” she said, acknowledging the concerns raised by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable group. “Tracking every case isn’t Read more
