TORONTO (AP) – The Canadian government said on Wednesday that passengers must undergo a negative COVID-19 test within three days of arrival in the country.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the measure will be implemented in the coming days.
Canada is already requiring those entering the country to isolate themselves for 14 days, and it has already banned all flights from the UK due to the new variant of COVID-19 spreading there.
The decision came a day after the Prime Minister of Canada’s largest province said he had ordered his Treasury Secretary to end a Caribbean vacation he took at a time when the government is urging people to avoid non-essential travel. because of the pandemic.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said Wednesday that it is “unacceptable” for Treasury Secretary Rod Phillips to travel to the French island of St. Barts for the holidays.
“We will have a very difficult conversation when he comes back,” Ford said. “There cannot be rules for elected people and non-elected people.”
Ford said Phillips had “never told anyone” he was leaving, but Ford said he knew Phillips was out of the country “shortly after he arrived.”
“My mistake. I take full responsibility. At the time, I should have said ‘go back to Ontario,’ and I didn’t,” said Ford.
The Secretary of the Treasury’s Twitter account had suggested he was in Ontario while in St. Barts. In a video posted on Christmas Eve, he sat by a fireplace with a gingerbread house and a small Christmas tree drinking lawyer.
Phillips said he returned immediately.
Opposition parties called for Phillips to be removed from the cabinet.
Phillips also traveled to Switzerland in August.
“Some Canadians still travel for non-essential reasons. This is very concerning. We have to reiterate that this is not the time to travel, ”Howard Njoo, deputy head of public health for Canada, said Wednesday.
Ontario began a provincial lockdown on Dec. 26, and Ford accuses travelers of bringing the new coronavirus to the province.
The National Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario have repeatedly asked Canadians not to travel abroad during the pandemic.
The Ford government has already been criticized for halting vaccination operations over the holidays and postponing a provincial lockdown until the day after Christmas.
Ontario set a new daily record for business on Wednesday with 2,923, with just over a third in the country’s largest city, Toronto.