Canada will require air travelers to submit a negative COVID-19 test to enter the country, officials announced Wednesday.
Travelers entering Canada by plane will have to undergo a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours of boarding, which is likely to take place within a week, according to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc. Reported the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Canada currently requires those entering the country to be quarantined for 14 days Public Security Secretary Bill Blair said at a news conference that it would not be affected by the new restrictions.
“This is not an alternative to quarantine,” Blair said, according to the CBC. “It’s an extra layer.”
Blair also answered calls from some to shorten the 14-day quarantine period, saying, “At this point, we should only consider testing as an additional layer of defense against the disease,” said Yahoo News. He called the mandate Canada’s “most effective line of defense for keeping the disease out of Canada.”
Disobedience to the quarantine period can result in up to six months in prison or up to $ 750,000 in fines.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau is expected to reveal more details about the testing requirement on Thursday, the network said. Blair announced that Ottawa was investigating testing at points of entry into the country.
The country has also banned all flights from the UK amid the outbreak of a new COVID-19 strain estimated to be more contagious, although Canada has. already confirmed cases of the tribe within its borders.
The restrictions will also follow the conviction of the Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, of his Treasury Secretary’s vacation to the French island of St. Barts during the vacation. Ford called the trip “unacceptable,” as the government is asking people to avoid non-essential travel, The Associated Press reported.