New Travel Rules kicked in today at Canadian borders, airports

The Government of Canada today implemented new tough new travel rules aimed at preventing COVID-19 variants from entering the country. This will directly impact international travellers and these new rules will make travel out of country lot more expensive and complicated. As of today, Ottawa’s tough new rules for air travelers are in effect. Most air passengers entering Canada at one of the four approved international airports will be tested for COVID-19 on arrival. And then they will then have to pay for a mandatory three-day quarantine at one of 18 government-authorized hotels. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the measures are meant to keep everyone safe, but many passengers feel the cost is too high, with some rearranging their travel plans to beat today’s deadline. kicked off at midnight vaccine doses on the ground shipments arrive in several Canadian cities as Canada prepares to receive a record number of doses this week.

The Government of Canada has put in place an Emergency Order on Quarantine, Isolation and Other Obligations under the Quarantine Act. 

If a traveller is entering Canada, he or she must:

When you enter Canada, you must:

• quarantine for 14 days if no symptoms
• isolate for 14 days if she or she has symptoms of COVID-19
• comply with mandatory quarantine or isolation requirements – failure to comply will result in fines, penalties or imprisonment
• Travellers flying – this includes a mandatory 3 night pre-paid booking at a government-authorized hotel at their own cost.
• Towards the end of the quarantine, the traveller has to take another COVID-19 test. The traveller has to stay in your place of quarantine until you receive a negative test result.

Pre-entry test requirements

As of 11:59 pm ET February 14, 2021, whether driving or flying, all travelers 5 years of age or older, regardless of citizenship, must provide proof of a valid COVID-19 molecular test result. The traveler doesn’t require a test to fly within Canada.

The travelers must:

• take the test within 72 hours of your entry into Canada or scheduled flight departure time
  • for those arriving by land, the test must be taken in the United States
• provide one of the accepted types of tests, not an antigen test
• keep proof of the test results for the 14-day period that begins on the day they enter Canada