“Officially, our government is advising Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said at a press conference.
“Now is not the time to travel. The rapid spread of the covid variant globally makes us fear the worst,” he continued.
The travel recommendation will be reassessed in four weeks, but public health restrictions could be imposed as the pandemic situation worsens, officials said at the press conference.
The federal government proposed closing the borders in an emergency meeting with provincial leaders on Tuesday evening, but the measure was totally rejected, a government source told AFP.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that cases linked to the micron variant were increasing rapidly, requiring swift action from countries to try to prevent their spread.
As of Wednesday, there were 40,000 active cases of covid in Canada and at least 4,500 new infections reported by health authorities.
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