Travelers entering Canada must undergo a PCR test and wait for isolated results in hotels for at least three days, under strict surveillance.
The cost of the tests and stays is “about two thousand Canadian dollars” (about 1,565 US dollars) and will be borne by visitors, the official said.
The second mandatory PCR test at the airport will be required “as soon as possible, in the coming weeks” and will be in addition to the negative covid-19 test carried out less than three days earlier in order to travel to Canada.
If the test is negative, travelers can end the two-week home quarantine, “but under stricter surveillance measures,” he explained.
Travelers who test positive will be transferred to a public health center.
“These measures will enter into force as soon as possible in February,” he added.
Trudeau also announced that the government had agreed with four airlines to suspend flights to “sunny destinations” in Mexico and the Caribbean until April 30.
Air Canada and WestJet, the two largest national airlines, have announced that they will suspend flights to fifteen destinations from Sunday to April 30. Air Transat has informed of the immediate suspension of its operations until the same date.
As of next week, international flights will only be able to land at airports in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
“Since the onset of the crisis, my priority has been to protect Canadians,” said the Prime Minister, who has been calling for months that non-essential travel be avoided.
Trudeau acknowledged that the new guidelines are intended to “demotivate travelers” and delay the spread of new strains of the virus in Canada.
Quebec Prime Minister François Legault celebrated Trudeau’s decision in a tut, while his Ontario counterpart Doug Ford said that “these measures will be implemented in several weeks, which means a setback of several weeks.”
Ontario, the Canadian province with the most covid-19 cases, will require mandatory negative testing for travelers arriving at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport from Monday, Ford said.
As of March, people arriving in the country, whether Canadian or not, have been subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine to prevent the spread of covid-19. Since December, the presentation of a negative test has become mandatory.
Canada has faced a sharp acceleration of the pandemic since December, which has prompted authorities to re-adopt containment measures in the two most affected provinces, Ontario and Quebec, in addition to a nighttime curfew in the latter.
This Friday, the country recorded more than 769 thousand cases of coronavirus and 19 thousand deaths.
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