A Canadian travel and tourism group is calling on Canada to lay out a plan with a clear timeline for removing travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers. “Canada is in a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic – one marked by widespread vaccination and high levels of prior infection, and one which many Medical Officers of Health have called endemic,” the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable said in a statement today (Feb. 14). “From Denmark and the United Kingdom to Switzerland, Ireland and Norway, many forward-thinking countries worldwide have recognized that the time has come to remove COVID-19 travel restrictions Read more
Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable
Two prominent Canadian doctors are calling for an end to Canada’s “futile” and “obsolete” PCR testing rules. Speaking at a Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable press event at Toronto Pearson Airport, Dr. Zain Chagla, Infectious Diseases Physician and Associate Professor at McMaster University, said COVID-19 testing at the border doesn’t make any sense. “Travel is no more risky than other activities and there is no scientific reason to single it out,” Chagla said. “When first put in place, Canada’s travel rules were designed to keep COVID-19 out of the country. Now that the virus is here and community spread is Read more
The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is calling on the federal government to redeploy PCR tests used for on-arrival testing of fully-vaccinated, asymptomatic and previously negative travellers into Canada for community use and for a return to randomized on-arrival testing for surveillance purposes. “On December 17, the federal government announced additional measures to contain the spread of the Omicron variant,” The Roundtable said in a statement. “This included the increase of on-arrival PCR testing for travellers arriving from destinations other than the United States and isolation until test results are received, despite all travellers being fully vaccinated, asymptomatic and having Read more
Canadian government testing rules are too expensive for families and are simply “irrational,” critics suggest. The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, speaking on behalf of families and the business community across Canada, are asking the Trudeau government to remove “unnecessary and non-science-based obstacles to international travel,” such as the pre-departure PCR test for fully vaccinated travellers, which it says disproportionately impact average Canadian families. The Roundtable also is calling on the government to amend the discriminatory child policy for travelling minors. For the average Canadian family, travel is becoming increasingly difficult. The burdensome cost of a PCR test can add Read more
