Air travellers must get test before landing in Canada

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This article was published 31/12/2020 (1738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Although Winnipeg airport officials had lobbied the federal government for rapid COVID-19 testing of travellers who arrive at Canadian airports, Ottawa has decided to take a different route.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced a plan to require those entering Canada to have proof of a negative PCR test taken three days in advance of their arrival. PCR tests are designed to detect minute amounts of the virus, usually through a swab up the nose or in the mouth.

No start date for the plan was given, but the government said details would be announced shortly. The measures would be on top of the requirement to stay home for two weeks.

In response, a Winnipeg airport official said the plan might entice more people to travel, even though it’s not the WAA’s preferred option.

“It’s important to try to do everything you can to minimize the risks,” said Tyler MacAfee of the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

The airport has suffered a huge economic hit and was forced to lay off workers this year as traffic dropped more than 90 per cent because of the pandemic.

“It’s interesting the government’s gone in that direction,” MacAfee said Wednesday, noting other countries conduct testing of arriving passengers so travel restrictions can be loosened.

The WAA had lobbied Ottawa to replicate a pilot project run by the Calgary airport, which uses a different testing technology to cut in half the 14-day quarantine period for those who arrive back in Canada.

Rapid tests spot the most infectious carriers of the coronavirus, but aren’t as precise as the nasal-swab PCR testing in labs. In Calgary, someone can re-enter the public after getting two negative rapid tests, a week apart, instead of quarantining for 14 days.

On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Wednesday the Winnipeg proposal is not his government’s current focus.

“Quite frankly, we would only move forward on a measure like that if the evidence and the data and the advice of our health officials supported it,” Blair told reporters.

“What we’re talking about today is a very different thing, and that’s adding pre-boarding testing, as an additional measure of testing.”

The Conservatives demanded to know the fine print such as when the plan would take effect, whether the three-day period starts when a plane takes off or when it arrives in Canada and whether airlines will have to rebook passengers who show up without a test result.

Numerous countries in Europe and the Caribbean require passengers to produce a negative PCR test before getting on a plane bound for that destination.

MacAfee said some travellers who fly out of Winnipeg are currently required to produce such test results, depending on their destination.

The travel industry argues that a tiny percentage of COVID-19 cases in Canada has been linked to travel, but some epidemiologists suggest that could be due to the difficulty in proving such exposures.

In any case, MacAfee took Wednesday’s announcement as proof Ottawa would consider evidence when choosing its travel restrictions, particularly as more vaccines are given and case rates decline.

“This points to the need to have testing and protocols in place to reinforce the point that travel is safe,” MacAfee said.

Several other countries, including the U.S., have implemented a negative test requirement for incoming passengers. The identification of new strains of COVID-19 in the U.K. and South Africa has only heightened concerns about cross-border spread of the virus.

The government had months to implement a similar system in Canada, but instead rolled out a haphazard announcement in response to headlines, said Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel.

“Our MP offices have already been receiving inquiries this morning from panicked travellers abroad on this new requirement,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

“Justin Trudeau has had months to get his act together on this front, and today’s detail-free announcement is irresponsible.”

Government officials have asked people to stay home and avoid non-essential travel to slow the spread of COVID-19, all the while acknowledging they can’t block Canadians from leaving or re-entering the country.

That hasn’t stopped people from hopping on planes to head abroad, including politicians who find themselves in hot water over their vacations, including  Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips, who faced calls for his resignation after being caught in the Caribbean island nation of St. Barts.

— with files from The Canadian Press

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca