Now travellers heading to the U.S. have to undergo the test for COVID within 24 hours of departing.
The announcement was made by the president, Joe Biden, on 2nd November. The precaution has been taken amid the spreading of a new variant, the pandemic-causing virus.
The new measure will be executed in the coming week. Regardless of nationality/vaccination status, every passenger has to follow this new guideline. Furthermore, the unvaccinated population is strictly not welcomed in the country (apart from a few exempted people).
The announcement was made just a few days later when Canada announced that travellers from the U.S. are exempted from the new restriction measures. At present, the only fully vaccinated population is allowed to enter Canada, and they also have to take a COVID test after arriving. Until the test comes negative, they will have to stay in quarantine. Only the U.S. is exempt from this rule.
The health minister of Canada mentioned that there would be a meeting with provinces to discuss the exemption of U.S. travellers. Since 30th November, no discussion has been made public so far.
Travellers will have to be vaccinated with eligible shots to get an entry in Maple country.
Travel restriction guidelines of Canada
Amid the spreading concern of the Omicron variant, the country has banned travel from the below-mentioned nations:
- Botswana;
- Egypt;
- Malawi;
- Nigeria;
- Mozambique;
- Eswatini;
- Lesotho;
- Namibia;
- South Africa;
- Zimbabwe.
Any traveller who has visited any of the above-mentioned countries in the last 2 weeks will not be admitted to the country. If any permanent resident/citizen of Canada had been to any of the countries, then they would need a negative RTPCR report while re-entering in their homeland. The test should be conducted in a 3rd country. Another test will be after reaching Canada. A 14 days quarantine is a must, and another test will be taken on the 8th day.
People flying to Canada have to stay in a designated facility for quarantine, and once their result comes negative, they can leave for their home.
Those who are doing road travel will be allowed to go to their planned quarantine centre, and if they do not have a plan for that, they will be redirected to a designated facility.
