Canada has extended by two months Covid-19-related testing requirements on air passengers arriving from China due in part to “limited epidemiological data available from China.”
The announcement of the extension of the measures specific to China, Hong Kong and Macao, first implemented on January 5, was made by the Public Health Agency of Canada or PHAC on Thursday.
These health measures, including temporary pre-boarding test requirements and arrival screening, will now remain in place till April 4.
A release from PHAC said this action was predicated on “continued reports of a dramatic increase of Covid-19 cases in China since the lifting of restrictions”. It also said there was “limited epidemiological data available from China, including with respect to genomic sequencing and potential variants of concern.”
“Despite the data provided by China thus far, on-going gaps in data availability remain a significant concern,” the agency added.
It also said that other factors taken into account were “the potential impact of China’s reopening on Canada’s health care system” and “responses of partner countries and international organizations.”
Travellers, aged two years and older, arriving on flights originating from the China, Hong Kong or Macao, will need to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test result, taken no more than two days before their departure, to the airline prior to boarding. Canadian authorities will accept either a negative molecular test, such as the RT-PCR, or negative antigen test, if the latter has documentation to show that it has been monitored by a telehealth service or an accredited laboratory or testing provider.
In addition, passengers who tested positive more than 10 days before their departure flight, but no more than 90 days, can provide the airline with documentation of their prior positive, in place of a negative test result.
Airlines must receive the negative Covid-19 test result, or documentation of a positive test result taken within the prior 10-90 days, before the traveller boards the plane, otherwise the traveller will be denied boarding.
Canada had dropped Covid-related border controls on October 1 last year.
PHAC described the extension as a “precautionary approach.” There has been no significant winter surge in Covid-19 cases in the country despite detection of Omicron sub-variants.
As per the updated data as of January 30, 11029 new cases were reported over the preceding week, with positivity at 12.3%. There were also an additional 229 deaths.
