Africa

The vast majority of Canadians support measures aimed at controlling the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and we’re mostly staying home this holiday season, a new poll reports. A new study from Leger polling and marketing, in conjunction with Canadian Press, also finds that Canadians and Americans think rather differently about COVID-19, at least in some respects. The latest poll, conducted online from Dec. 3 to 5, finds that a whopping 87% of Canadians support the idea of “going back to mandatory testing for all travellers coming into Canada.” For the U.S. the number was 81%. The Canadian government last week Read more

New testing requirements for most travellers coming into Canada will have a devastating effect on Canada’s tourism industry at a time when they’re just starting to recover from the pandemic, critics charge. “This is indeed another blow as the Canadian tourism sector was slowly seeing more action,” said Frederic Dimanche, director of the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. “This will of course lead to a significant decline in visitor arrivals. International visitors will not be willing to go through this.” The Trudeau government on Tuesday said anyone coming into Canada from a Read more

With cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 growing around the world, the Justin Trudeau government in Ottawa is slapping new travel restrictions on all travellers coming from countries other than the United States. The government today said anyone coming into Canada from a country other than the U.S. will have to be tested at  the airport and isolate until they get their results. That applies to travellers who are double vaccinated, said Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. “All air travelers coming from outside Canada, apart from the United States, will now need to be tested at the airport in which Read more

Multiple news outlets report that the Canadian government is banning the entry of foreign travellers into Canada if they’ve been visited South Africa. Citing concerns over the new omicron variant of COVID-19, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos today announced Friday that Ottawa will impose five measures in an effort to limit the spread of the new variant. According to Global News, “foreign nationals who have travelled through several south African countries in the past 14 days won’t be allowed into the country, he said. Those nations include South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. “All those who’ve arrived in Read more