COVID-19 tests are coming back for all at Canadian airports, as the federal government is re-imposing them for fully vaccinated travelers arriving from countries other than the United States. For fear of the Omicron variant, three other African countries are also entering Canada’s blacklist.
“Border measures can always change,” Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos recalled in an update on COVID-19 in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Air passengers, even fully vaccinated, must therefore now self-isolate until they obtain a negative result in the screening test carried out on their arrival in Canada. They don’t have to do a full 14-day quarantine or retest on day 8 like the unvaccinated, for whom travel restrictions don’t change.
Until now, vaccinated travelers could simply present their molecular screening test dated less than three days in the ArriveCan app to enter the country, which is still required.
The federal government has imposed these new restrictions on vaccinated travelers in order to “assess” the changing situation since the appearance of the new variant Omicron. The rules remain unchanged for travelers from the United States for now, but Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has warned travelers that the rules can be tightened at any time.
List of 10 countries
In addition, the list of countries that cannot have been visited by a foreign national wishing to enter Canada is expanding. The country will restrict the entry of travelers who are not Canadian or permanent residents and who have stayed in the past two weeks in Malawi, Egypt and Nigeria, in addition to those who have stayed in one of the seven countries announced on Friday: Africa of the South, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia.
Canadian travelers returning from these countries will have to comply with strict measures, such as a series of drug tests (day 1 and 8e day after arrival), a first isolation in a hotel authorized by the government before obtaining a first negative result, then quarantine at home.
Finally, federal ministers asked experts appointed to advise the government on vaccines to decide on the question of the usefulness of a third dose of vaccine against COVID-19.
“The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is asked to provide the Canadian government promptly with updated guidance on the usefulness of booster doses in the context of the emergence of the Omicron variant,” said Minister Duclos.
The Omicron variant, described as “worrying” by the World Health Organization (WHO) was detected for the first time in South Africa on November 24. He would have infected “up to six people” in Canada, according to federal public health officials Tuesday, since a potential case is under investigation in Alberta. As of Monday, four people in Ontario and one in Quebec had been confirmed as carriers of the Omicron variant.