Global flights restricted to handful of airports

Ottawa makes change after Trump’s ban on travel from Europe

The federal government said Friday it will restrict incoming international flights to a select few airports to control the spread of COVID-19.

The move comes two days after President Donald Trump announced that as of Friday night, the United States will ban foreign nationals who in the last two weeks visited any of 26 countries in Europe to control the spread of the outbreak.

Trump’s announcement appeared to catch the Trudeau government off-guard and raised the possibility that the U.S. might close the Canada-U.S. border, which would have dire consequences for the Canadian economy.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced the new international flight policy after a cabinet meeting that was chaired remotely by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is working in self-imposed isolation after his wife tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Speaking from outside Rideau Cottage, his residence, Trudeau refused to rule out further measures, including forbidding travel to Canada from particular countries.

Trudeau also said he was speaking by phone with fellow G7 leaders to take joint action to address the economic downturn the global pandemic has caused. Trudeau spoke with France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, after speaking with Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Italy’s Giuseppe Conte in recent days.

“We’re not closing the door to any further steps but we will make those decisions based on what science tells us,” Trudeau said.

Garneau said the government was still working out the details of which specific airports would be affected.

Blair said the government was in consultations to ensure “that international arrivals from certain regions” land at fewer airports. He had no other details.

“This will enable us to concentrate our precious resources for our border-services officers and for our public-health officers to ensure that they can do the important job that Canadians require, of screening all arriving passengers to make sure, first of all, that they are safe and healthy and that they are properly referred and dealt with should they be symptomatic,” Blair said.

Trudeau said earlier Friday that Canada is exploring whether to close the Canada-U.S. border.

Asked whether the government will close the border, Trudeau said: “We are in the midst of looking at this ... We’re in the midst of evaluating day to day what to do.”