Early next week, Canadians and all other foreign visitors traveling to the United States by air will need to obtain a COVID-19 test no later than the day before their departure.
US President Joe Biden is cutting the current 72-hour testing window for fully vaccinated travelers as part of a set of public health measures aimed at slowing the spread of the highly mutated Omicron variant.
A White House background briefing on the plan Wednesday night did not mention land borders, or whether fully vaccinated Canadians driving south would have to show a test result.
Omicron’s rise marks just the latest twist on the long road back to a semblance of normalcy for people who routinely travel back and forth between the two countries.
It’s been less than a month since the US lifted its restrictions on fully vaccinated non-essential travelers seeking to enter the country by land from Canada and Mexico.
Canada, for its part, has for now exempted U.S. visitors from its strict new rules, which require all other foreign air travelers to undergo a test upon arrival and isolate themselves while they await the results.
Currently, the US requires fully vaccinated visitors arriving by air from Canada to be tested no more than 72 hours prior to departure, while those crossing by land do not need any testing.
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Canada, which began allowing fully vaccinated U.S. citizens to enter the country in September, continues to require that all individuals who have received a full COVID-19 vaccine cycle, including Canadians, also provide evidence of a recent negative COVID test.
So far, the government has not said whether it expects the exemption for US air passengers to change before Monday.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the government would consult with provinces and territories on imposing similar measures on visitors from the United States, but Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra declined to say on Wednesday whether a decision on this was imminent.
#US will require all incoming foreign air passengers to undergo COVID testing the day before. #CDNPoli #OmicronVarient
Other components of the US 10-point strategy, outlined Wednesday by the White House before Biden’s announcement, include:
—A plan to expand access to booster vaccines, with a comprehensive outreach effort to convince nearly 100 million eligible Americans to get one;
—New family vaccination clinics to provide a one-stop-shop for whole households;
– Accelerate the effort to safely vaccinate children under five years of age;
—Expand the availability of home test kits;
—Rapid Response Teams To Help With Widespread Omicron Outbreaks;
—Another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine donated internationally in the next 100 days.
This Canadian Press report was first published on December 2, 2021.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com