Thousands still flying into Canada despite restrictions

Ottawa, May 26 (IANS) While US and international flights coming into Canada have been significantly curtailed since the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of passengers were still arriving each week at the country’s airports despite restrictions, it was reported.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, 356,673 air travellers came into the country from the US last year during the week of May 11-17. In the same time period this year, there was a nearly 99 per cent drop, CBC News said in a report on Monday.

Yet 3,691 people still entered Canada that week.

International travel also in that time period saw a 97 per cent decrease from last year’s total of 374,775.

This year, during that same week, 10,845 people arrived at one of the four Canadian airports that accept international flights — Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

In total, since March 23, 76,072 passengers from the US and 193,438 international travellers have arrived in Canada, the Agency revealed.

Two months ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that for air travel specifically, as of March 18, the government was barring foreign nationals from all countries except the US from entering Canada.

But an order later that month exempted a number of individuals, including immediate family members of a Canadian citizen, emergency service providers, temporary foreign workers and international students.

The ban came at a time when the vast majority of COVID-19 cases were deemed to be travel-related.

Since those restrictions have been implemented, travel-related cases of COVID-19 have dropped significantly, said the CBC News report.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), as of Monday, 81 per cent of all COVID-19 cases were related to community transmission.

Meanwhile, 19 per cent of cases were the result of someone becoming exposed while travelling or being exposed to a traveller coming to Canada. Nine per cent of cases were those who reported to have travelled outside of Canada.

Anyone arriving in Canada by air or land must complete a contact tracing form to help PHAC monitor and enforce the 14-day quarantine or isolation requirement.

Failing to comply with the Quarantine Act can lead to a fine of up to C$750,000 and/or imprisonment for six months.

–IANS

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