OTTAWA -- The federal government has secured authorization to send flights into countries including Peru and Morocco to retrieve stranded Canadians amid the global spread of COVID-19.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday, that his government is working with Air Canada to send three flights to Peru this week, two additional flights to Morocco, and another to Spain. Meanwhile, Air Transat will also send two flights to Honduras, and one each to Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
More than 400 Canadians stuck in Morocco have already been airlifted out. Another flight is planned for later this week.
All Canadians abroad are asked to register online notifying the government of their status.
"We can send you updates and contact you. You need to do this, if you haven’t done it already," said Trudeau during his daily press conference outside of Rideau Cottage in Ottawa.
The announcement of the new flights is welcome news for Canadians like Amy Schwartz, who has been stuck in a remote town in Peru with her partner John and their daughter Delmar.
The family made the nine-hour drive to Lima, the capital of Peru, this week, clutching a special letter of authorization to travel through a country that is under military lockdown.
Schwartz is four months pregnant and has a heart condition.
"I want to be near my cardiologist and my OBGYN,” she told CTV News Channel. “If I get sick with coronavirus or something else, the idea I can't get back to them is really disconcerting to me."
A number of international authorities have in recent days clamped down on cross-border travel to slow the spread of COVID-19, prompting pleas from Canadians overseas for the federal government to bring them home.
On March 15, the Peruvian government announced it would seal its borders for at least 15 days starting March 16, but said it would continue to work with countries to get their citizens home. Over the weekend, amid rapid spread of the virus, the government threatened more severe measures.
The announcement of three flights to Canada out of Peru offers an escape route for Schwartz and her family, who have been staying in a hotel in Lima.
Her daughter is “bouncing off the walls,” Schwartz said, adding that they are “not the only ones” in this position.
"We can't do this much longer.”
Champagne tweeted Saturday that he spoke with his counterpart in Peru and "confirmed that Canadian travellers stranded in the country can return home on agreed flights.”
There are currently 4,300 registered Canadians living in Peru, according to Global Affairs Canada. The flights are starting tomorrow, and Schwartz and her family will on one of them.
However, for those who are far from major cities, getting home still may not be possible.
Lina Thompson is another Canadian seeking a way home from Peru. But a backpacking trip left her stranded in a city in the Andes Mountains, 1,100 kilometres from Peru’s capital.
She told CTVNews.ca that despite registering, she hasn’t received any details about how or when she could get home.
"We’ve contacted embassies, we’ve contacted the SOS line, everything that we possibly can. We are receiving emails from embassies but we’re getting one a day,” said Thompson. “We get one generic email that doesn’t give us any real hope."
The plane repatriating Canadians is set to land in Lima, about a 20-hour bus ride from where Thompson and her two friends are stranded in Cusco. Because the country is under a military lockdown, there’s no free movement across regions.
"There is not a way we can get to Lima without the government’s help to get permissions," said Thompson.
She is desperate to return not just for her own sake, but so that she can help out in the fight against COVID-19 -- Thompson is a registered nurse from Barrie, Ont., and wants to be able to help care for patients.
"I feel absolutely miserable,” Thompson said. “We go through phases of feeling positive and really fighting for this and then we feel really low and helpless.”
The urgency is getting higher as more airlines make essential job cuts.
Air Transat announced it will lay off "about 70 per cent" of its workforce due to economic affects of COVID-19. Some employees will continue to work for the next month while others were laid off immediately. Air Canada has also announced it’s set to lay off 5,000 workers.
Air Canada said in a press release today that despite “a substantial reduction” in their network, they have repatriated 200,000 Canadians over the past week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said not all Canadians living abroad will be able to come home. As of last Wednesday, all international flights are being rerouted to Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, or Vancouver to help contain exposure and facilitate a more streamlined screening process.
All those returning from international travel are required to self-isolate for 14 days.
With files from CTVNews.ca's Alexandra Mae Jones
