THOSE FLYING TO CANADA STARTING JAN. 7 WILL NEED TO HAVE A NEGATIVE COVID-19 TEST BEFORE BOARDING AND MAY HAVE TO QUARANTINE IN A FEDERAL FACILITY IF THEY HAVE INADEQUATE ISOLATION PLANS.
Negative test required to fly into Canada
OTTAWA • Canada’s largest airline association says it is “frustrated” and fears the “uncertainty” created by the federal government’s “rushed approach” to impose an obligatory negative COVID-19 test to all travellers flying into Canada starting next week.
“We’ve been calling on the government now for over the past six months to work with industry to implement the national testing strategy,” Mike Mcnaney, president and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada, said in an inter view Friday. “The whole point of (recent pilot project programs) was to avoid with a rushed approach and implementation, which is exactly what we are exactly what we are now seeing.”
“What makes this so darn frustrating for us is that we could have avoided what we are now about to experience if we had taken the actions we’ve been calling for the past several months,” added the head of the industry group that represents companies such as Air Canada, Air Transat and Westjet.
Mcnaney was reacting to the Trudeau government’s Thursday announcement that anyone travelling in Canada by plane starting Jan. 7 will need to show a negative COVID -19 PCR test done within three days of departure in order to be allowed to board. The new rules do not apply to travellers entering Canada via land or sea borders.
Furthermore, travellers to Canada may be forced to quarantine in a federal facility if the government deems that they have inadequate isolation plans for the 14 days following their arrival.
“These new measures will provide another layer of protection for Canadians as we continue to assess public health risks and work to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Canada,” Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement Thursday.
“Canadians who are currently t r av e l l i n g and returning to Canada soon should start immediately arranging for a COVID-19 test, to avoid a delay in their return to Canada. Canadians who are planning to travel abroad should consider how they will meet these requirements before departure,” the statement added.
Receiving a negative COVID-19 test before flying into Canada does not change the fact that travellers still have to quarantine for 14 days after their arrival.
The first details were released one day after ministers announced that a negative PCR test, which is administered via a swab in the nose or mouth, would soon be necessary to enter Canada via airport borders.
But according to Mcnaney, airlines are still grappling with the fact that government still hasn’t released the comprehensive text of the regulatory changes, meaning they are still in the dark as to how these new rules will be imposed.
For example, McNaney says companies need to know which type of documents travellers will have to show, the list of approved foreign testing centres and what to do if a traveller is departing to Canada from an area where it is difficult or impossible to do a PCR test.
“When you don’t have great clarity on this, what you create is uncertainty. And when you create uncertainty, what you then create by definition is disjointed application. And that’s not just by carriers, but also by the general public who are not clear themselves what is required,” Mcnaney explained.
“There is not sufficient time here to ensure that this is rolled out the effectively and as properly as it should be.”
The head of the Airline Council also said there are concerns for companies’ employees, who likely won’t have time to be fully trained before the new rules come into place next week due to the tight deadline. He said workers will also likely be forced to deal with frustrated travellers who will not have heard of the new obligations.
“You are always concerned about people who are arriving at the airport, who don’t know about the requirement, and then are told that as a result of regulation: ‘ You cannot fly today.’ You are always concerned about their reaction, and about the well-being of front line staff,” Mcnaney detailed.