Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos is asking Canadians with plans to travel abroad to cancel their trips as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads worldwide.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos is asking Canadians with plans to travel abroad to cancel their trips as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads worldwide.
To prevent travel-related infections at a time of mounting case counts, the federal government has changed its official guidance to advise Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel outside the country for the time being.
“To those who were planning to travel, I say very clearly — now is not the time to travel. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant on a global scale makes us fear the worst,” Duclos said.
With tens of thousands of Canadians planning trips abroad over the coming weeks, the new advisory could wreak havoc on vacation plans and void some travel insurance policies.
Acknowledging that introducing a new advisory so close to Christmas is a “drastic” move, Duclos said he’s acting now because he’s “afraid” and “concerned” for people who travel abroad because the Omicron situation is changing quickly. The rate of spread is “huge,” he said, and Canadians may find themselves stranded if countries impose lockdown measures or curb flights in and out.
“The situation abroad is already dire in many places and it’s going to get worse very quickly, so we’re afraid for what could happen to them if they leave Canada,” Duclos said.
We’re answering your questions about travel during the pandemic. Send yours to Ask@cbc.ca, and we’ll answer as many as we can.
In addition to the new travel warning, Duclos said the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will ramp up the mandatory arrival testing program at the country’s airports. Duclos said last week the feds could process up to 17,000 arrival tests a day — he’s now promising to do more and to “test as many travellers as possible.”
Last week, the federal government announced it would make incoming travellers from non-U.S. foreign destinations get a COVID-19 test when they arrive in Canada. This new test is in addition to the pre-departure molecular test that all travellers must undergo before leaving for Canada.
Asked if the arrival testing program will be applied to people coming from the U.S., Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the government is “constantly reassessing” the situation.
“When we feel we need to change our policies, we’ll announce it as quickly as possible. For now, we’re monitoring it,” Alghabra said.
Asked if the government would consider reinstating the hotel quarantine program — an earlier initiative that forced returning international air passengers into hotels while while they waited for their post-arrival test results — Duclos said “all options are on the table.” For now, he said, the government is just advising against travel but other measures could soon follow.
With the existing pre-departure testing requirement and a vaccine mandate in place, PHAC data suggest very few returning travellers have actually tested positive for COVID-19.
Of the 232,835 arrival tests completed by fully vaccinated air passengers between Sept. 10 and Nov. 27, only 0.14 per cent produced a positive result.
The test positivity rate was relatively low for unvaccinated and partially vaccinated travellers — 0.63 per cent of those 267,559 tests have come back positive.
Asked why the federal government is targeting travellers while allowing provinces and territories to proceed with mass gatherings like indoor sporting events, Duclos said today’s measures are all about “prudence.”
“Whether we like it or not, we must adapt to this reality. We must stand together and do everything in our power to protect our health care system and our front-line workers,” he said.
WestJet, one of the country’s largest airlines, strongly condemned the new travel advisory in a media statement Wednesday, saying the government’s decision is “not based on science and data.”
“Air travel is the most tested and protected consumer activity in Canada. Every person travelling internationally is tested on average twice throughout their travel journey,” said Harry Taylor, the airline’s president and CEO.
“As the only fully-vaccinated air travel sector in the world, WestJet is calling on the government to publicly share the travel related COVID-19 data that has been used to re-impose the advisory and advice targeted towards fully-vaccinated Canadians and the travel and tourism industry.”
Taylor said “fully-vaccinated Canadians should not be singled out” by the government for choosing to take part in a “safe activity.” He also said the travel advisory, coming just 10 days before Christmas, will cause “unnecessary disruption” and “chaos” across the travel industry.
Speaking briefly to reporters earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadians need to be cautious when making plans for the holidays.
“Canadians have been attentive [to COVID-19] for months and months. We’ve seen that people know how to do the right thing. They’re going to have to be vigilant and make careful decisions about Christmas,” Trudeau said in French before the start of a Liberal caucus meeting this morning.
Tune in to CBC’s The National tonight for a special full edition on COVID-19 and the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Canada and around the world. What do you need to know to protect yourself and the people around you? Should you change your holiday plans? What’s safe and what’s not? Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang will be joined by doctors and health experts throughout the program to answer your questions. Send your questions to ask@cbc.ca, and be sure to tune in to The National tonight at 9 p.m. on CBC News Network, 10 p.m. on CBC Television and CBC Gem.
