Canada Relaxes COVID-19 Restrictions For Travelers

The federal government of Canada announced that effective February 28, fully-vaccinated travelers can enter Canada with a pre-arrival antigen test, unvaccinated children will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days, and also all the international flights to Canadian airports will resume.

Also, in case a fully-vaccinated traveler is selected for a random on-arrival test, they will no longer have to wait at the airport for the result. The pre-arrival antigen test that the traveler will be carrying must be approved by the country and must be taken 24 hours before arriving at the border or their scheduled flight. A rapid antigen test at home will not be sufficient to meet the pre-entry criteria. The antigen test must be administered by a healthcare entity, laboratory, or telehealth service. The traveler is allowed to use a PCR test within 72 hours before arrival.

All Canada travelers are required to upload the necessary documents via the ArriveCAN app before crossing the border. Although, unvaccinated Canada travelers are still required to be tested on arrival and quarantine for 14 days. Also, they will need to perform a test on day eight of their quarantine.

All the new COVID-19 traveling requirements were announced by the Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos on February 15 in Ottawa. He was joined by the ministers of transport, public safety, tourism, and intergovernmental affairs. The Travel minister announced that international flights to all Canadian airports will resume on February 28. Canada will move its travel advisory from level 3 to level 2, which means the government no longer recommends Canadian avoid travel for non-essential purposes. Although, the minister still highlights the risks associated with the pandemic around.

The Health Minister also emphasizes the fact that the measures taken are transitory and are subjected to changes as the COVID-19 situation demands. He suggested that restrictions may ease further if the country sees a decline in the hospitalization rates.

Meanwhile, the provincial governments are also taking the necessary measures to ease COVID-19 restrictions. Manitoba is planning to relax COVID-19 restrictions by mid-march. On the other hand, Ontario moved up its timeline to ease public health measures. Other provinces such as Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan also announced to roll back restrictions.