Q TRAVEL – The Canadian government announced on Monday that starting Oct. 1, all COVID-19 entry restrictions will be removed, including testing, quarantine and isolation requirements for anyone entering Canada.
Foreign travelers will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination or covid test on arrival. Quarantine policies for arriving travelers will also be scrapped.
“Thanks in large part to Canadians who rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated, and our dedicated public health and frontline workers, we have reached the point where we can safely remove the measures put in place to manage COVID-19 and its variants at our borders.” posted on Twitter, Jean-Yves Duclos, Federal Minister of Health.
Thanks in large part to Canadians who rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated, and our dedicated public health and frontline workers, we have reached the point where we can safely remove the measures put in place to manage COVID-19 and its variants at our borders. pic.twitter.com/PWPx82bPO2
— Jean-Yves Duclos (@jyduclos) September 26, 2022
More than 90% of Canadians over 12 have been vaccinated.
Mask mandates will be lifted on trains and planes. The government would also no longer require passengers to have pre-board tests for cruise ships.
Canada has passed the peak of omicron infections, and the aviation and travel industries have been pushing the government to relax the rules.
Coronavirus restrictions could return
Canada is one of the last countries to remove travel requirements following the United States and the United Kingdom — yet, Muhajarine said, the removal of the requirements does not mean the removal of the threat of COVID-19.
The health minister said the government was prepared to reinstate restrictions if needed.
“Obviously we have no hope to reintroduce some of these measures, but, if we need to protect the safety of Canadians, we will have to,” Duclos said.
(Toronto Star, AFP, AP, Reuters)