The Government of Canada announced yesterday the details of the first phase of its approach to easing the country’s border measures for foreign arrivals. It is because of the successes of the vaccine rollout in the country as well as Canadians following public health measures that these cautious adjustments are now possible.
Starting from July 5, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT), fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents will not be subjected to the mandatory quarantine restrictions that that were imposed several months ago.
These policy changes do not apply to fully vaccinated foreign nationals, including US citizens. The USA-Canada border will continue to remain closed to foreign nationals and nonessential travel until July 21.
“On both sides of the border we’re proceeding with appropriate caution and care and taking the advice of our public health experts as we begin to ease border measures,” said Bill Blair, Canada’s public security minister, during a press conference in Ottawa Monday.
“But clearly we’re not in there yet and we’ve got a lot of work to do and I think it’s another opportunity just encourage Canadians to continue to get those vaccinations,” he added.
To avoid the mandatory quarantine, arrivals will need to show proof of both doses of their vaccination taken at least 14 days prior to their travel. Apart from this, travellers will need to carry a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of entering Canada.
Those entering Canada will be required to take another COVID-19 test on arrival and will need to self-isolate at home until the results of the test come back negative.
As of June 21, Canada’s Public Health Agency reported that over 75% of eligible Canadians have received at least one dose of a vaccine and more than 20% of the country’s residents were fully vaccinated.
The relaxation of the quarantine restrictions will not apply to children who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccines. This means children under 12 years shall still be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days.
During the press conference, Patty Hajdu, Canada’s health minister said, “The research and science obviously indicates that children can get sick with Covid-19 and they can transmit Covid-19 and because vaccines are not authorized for use in children under 12 unfortunately most children will not be vaccinated. And so, the advice from the team of scientists and public health experts is that to protect Canadians from contact with an imported case of Covid-19, that children under 12 do have to quarantine.”
