Canada extends restrictions on international travel

KOMPAS.com – Canada extends restrictions on international travel to countries outside of the United States (US) until February 2, 2021.

To throw CIC News On Wednesday (1/20/2021), the one-month extension was announced Wednesday by Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.

“Our government has never hesitated to take the necessary steps to protect Canadians from Covid-19, while maintaining important trade with our international partners,” he said in a post on Twitter, citing CIC News.

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In addition, Blair also announced last week that restrictions on travelers from the United States would last until at least February 21.

Canada-United States restrictions

Canada-U.S. Restrictions have been closed since March 2020 for non-essential travel. In the meantime, this joint decision between Washington and Ottawa has been extended several times.

To protect Canadians from Covid-19, the federal government has also put in place restrictions on international travel since March to limit travel there.

As a result of these restrictions, non-essential and voluntary (discretionary) travel to Canada has been banned.

However, Canadians and residents can welcome an immediate or extended family member among a number of other exceptions.

Entry requirements to Canada for international flights

As of January 7, Canada has required every international traveler aged five years or older to provide negative proof of a PCR swab taken within 72 hours of their scheduled departure.

This negative PCR test is required before travelers are permitted to board a flight to Canada. In the meantime, the pre-departure policy was announced by Transport Canada on December 31, 2020.

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Even so, the regulations do not exempt travelers from the 14-day quarantine requirement. A quarantine plan should be prepared prior to arrival in Canada to determine where and how it will be executed.

Travelers planning to visit should also use the ArriveCAN app to send their information to Canadian border services officers.

Not only that, they must also learn how to comply with Covid-19 prevention measures at the border.

dok. Paddy Pallin (https://www.brandcanadalibrary.ca/) Illustration of Canada – Banff National Park in Alberta (doc. Paddy Pallin https://www.brandcanadalibrary.ca/).

The app is used by all arriving travelers to perform self-assessments and share contact tracing information so that it can be shared with provinces and territories to ensure the quarantine process is complete.

For those who violate the quarantine policy in Canada, they can be subject to fines and imprisonment.

Reinforced precautionary measures

In recent days, the Canada Border Services Agency and government officials have suggested that travel restrictions and controls could be tightened.

The Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, also asked the federal government on Tuesday (19/1/2021) during a briefing on the Covid-19 to ban non-essential international travel.

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These concerns arise due to the new variant which has recently become an epidemic. In addition, the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in several countries around the world has also contributed to these concerns.

Additional control rules may include additional screening or changes to border control procedures.

Currently, the number of Covid-19 cases in many parts of Canada continues to increase. As of Wednesday, the number of reported cases exceeded 723,920.

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