Canadian Government declared that with effect from April 1, 2022, fully vaccinated travelers will need not to have a negative covid-19 test report. This applies to the travelers entering through land, air or water. Health Minister Jean Yves Duclos said tests will no longer be required from April 1, 2022.
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Although the government has dropped the need of covid-19 test for fully vaccinated travelers, it may conduct random testing on travelers to have a track of different variants of the virus. Along with this, the government has made clear that the travelers undergoing these random tests will not be quarantined while they wait for their report.
This decision was inspired after the travel industry demanded to demolish testing requirements. They supported their move by stating that the testing costs can cause demotivation among travelers. The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable referred Covid testing as a “non-science based” requirement for travelers arriving in Canada.
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As reported by CIC news, the cost of a molecular covid-19 test in Canada is approx 200 CAD whereas an antigen test will cost less than 100 CAD. It also called attention to the countries like UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark who have also dropped the covid-test requirement.
According to current travel guidelines, travelers must produce a pre-arrival antigen test report within 24 hours of the scheduled flight. Also, the test taken must be approved by the government of the country the traveler will depart from and the test must not have been taken at home. Another alternative is to go through a molecular test within 72 hours of arrival in Canada. Most importantly, all the required documents must be uploaded on the ArriveCAN app before crossing the border.
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Other relaxations for international travelers include uplifting two-week mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated children below the age of 12 moving to Canada.
However, the vaccination requirement didn’t undergo any changes so far. Currently, permanent and temporary residents and visitor visa holders can travel to Canada on being fully-vaccinated. Unvaccinated travelers will also be allowed if they are Ukraine citizens, workers returning to the agriculture and food-processing sector or those who have to travel between borders due to their nature of work.
14 days quarantine is still mandatory for unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated travelers along with getting tested on the eighth day of their quarantine.
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