OTTAWA – Canadians should carefully weigh any future decisions about overseas travel, even if the federal government has lifted a global advisory asking them to avoid non-essential travel, health officials warned Friday.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said the government will provide more specific information on the severity of COVID-19 in various countries to help Canadians decide where they should consider traveling.
“The pandemic is alive and well. There are certainly still travel risks,” Tam said on Friday. She said it was too early for the government to give a “comprehensive” recommendation on all travel, but said it was essential to be fully immunized and assess the level of the pandemic in any potential destination. .
“Now is not the time to go anywhere free.”
The government said Thursday it was lifting the global warning asking Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside the country, but it continued to advise against travel on cruise ships.
The global travel advisory was put in place in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Deputy chief public health officer Dr Howard Njoo said on Friday that Canadians should ask themselves a series of questions before planning a trip abroad.
Njoo urged Canadians to assess the “epidemiological situation” of COVID-19 in any potential travel destination “as there are great variations between different countries and even within countries, as we have seen here in Canada” .
They should also look at the level of vaccination rates in these countries “because it is an indication of what community transmission may be in that region”.
Canadian travelers should also ask themselves what they really want to do when they travel to another country. “For example, if you are going to go on solitary hikes in nature, that is one thing. But if you plan to cruise with a lot of people in an enclosed space, that is another thing,” Njoo said.
Canadians should also weigh the “culture of personal protective measures” in places they plan to travel, such as whether masks are commonly worn or not, he said.
“We know that the situation is not the same in all regions of the world. There are regions in the world which are still suffering from the severe consequences of COVID-19,” he said.
The Government of Canada website now displays advisories for each destination country, as it did before the pandemic.
He also urges Canadians to make sure they are fully immunized against the novel coronavirus before traveling abroad and to stay informed of the COVID-19 situation at their destination.
The move comes as the federal government announced that it had reached an agreement with the provinces on a new national vaccination passport for national and international travel.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that provinces and territories have agreed to adjust their own vaccine passports to give them the same look, feel and security measures based on the international standard for so-called health cards. smart.
Several have already started distributing proof of vaccination documents, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
Canada opened its borders last month to non-essential international travelers who received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada, and to fully vaccinated travelers from the United States in August.
The US government recently announced that its land borders will reopen to non-essential Canadian travelers on November 8.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 22, 2021
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