The federal government on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, advised Canadians against non-essential international travel in an effort to protect against the Omicron variant, while Ontario and Quebec announced thousands of new COVID-19 infections.
The auditor general has found Canada failed to adequately enforce border measures designed to keep international travellers from importing cases of COVID-19 into the country, just as the government reintroduces several stringent rules in response to the spreading Omicron variant.
An Ontario infectious disease specialist says there is evidence testing all travellers before and after they arrive in Canada will identify most cases of COVID-19 coming into the country.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is set to release new guidance this morning on the use of COVID-19 vaccine boosters as public health faces down the threat of the Omicron variant.
Not all Canadian airports will have the capacity to immediately begin testing arriving air travellers from countries other than the United States for COVID-19, the federal health minister said on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 .
By early next week, Canadians and all other foreign visitors who travel to the United States by air will need to get a COVID-19 test no later than the day before their departure.
All air travellers entering Canada, except for those coming from the United States, will now need to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival at the airport and isolate until they get their results, even if they are fully vaccinated against the virus.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and his counterparts from other G7 countries agreed on Monday, November 29, 2021, to closely monitor and share information about the highly mutated Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Both cases of the variant were found in the Ottawa area in people who had recently been in Nigeria, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a joint statement with the province's top public health official, Dr. Kieran Moore.