Some Fully Vaxxed Air Travellers Could Face 2 Days In Quarantine After They Get To Canada
They have to quarantine while waiting for the results of their on-arrival COVID-19 test.
You might want some non-perishable food items in your cupboard before you go on vacation outside Canada. The government is rolling out new travel rules, including universal on-arrival COVID-19 testing for air travellers coming to Canada from places other than the United States.
Fully-vaccinated air travellers who undergo on-arrival testing will then have to quarantine until they get their test results. According to information Health Canada shared with MTL Blog, that could take between 24 and 48 hours.
Unvaccinated air travellers with a right to enter Canada who test on arrival, meanwhile, will have to quarantine in what's called a Designated Quarantine Facility until they get their results.
Once they're out, they'll have to speak to a Public Health Agency of Canada officer to make sure they have another secure place to finish their 14-day quarantine. They still have to test on their eighth day of quarantine, too.
As of Friday, December 4, the government was still setting up on-arrival testing for travellers not coming from the United States at airports across the country, according to Health Canada.
These new rules are in addition to the pre-departure requirement to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of a flight leaving for Canada — though there's an exemption for fully-vaccinated Canadians who are outside the country for less than three days.
And if you thought the complicated web of rules ended there, you're wrong.
The U.S. has also introduced new rules in response to the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 virus variant. As of Monday, December 6, travellers flying into the United States need to have taken a COVID-19 test just one day before departure.