Feds to eliminate pre-arrival PCR testing for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers, source says
Feds to eliminate pre-arrival PCR testing for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers, source says
The federal government is set to eliminate PCR testing requirements for fully vaccinated Canadians travelling outside of the country, a senior government source tells CTV News.
Currently, any person who travels outside the country must provide proof of a negative molecular test, such as a PCR test, prior to returning to Canada. The test must be taken within 72 hours of scheduled departure on a flight or arrival at a land border.
Ottawa is set to remove those requirements at the end of the month, CTV News has confirmed. Instead of a PCR test, Canadians will be required to show proof of a negative antigen test, similar to the United States.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos signalled Friday that the federal government would announce changes to pandemic measures at Canada's borders next week.
The federal government has advised against all non-essential international travel since mid-December following the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Foreign nationals coming to Canada, and those travelling within the country by plane, passenger train or boat, must be vaccinated, with some exceptions.
Duclos said during a news briefing that the worst of the latest COVID-19 wave is now behind Canada, and the government will "continue to tweak" measures accordingly.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam also said the country's travel advisory is being assessed.
Due to the infectious nature of Omicron, Tam said it is difficult to stop every case at the border and prevent an infected person from transmitting the virus to someone else.
The number of new cases in Canada has dropped to about 11,000 each day, although many jurisdictions have restricted tests to high-risk individuals.
With files from CTVNews.ca writer Michael Lee and The Canadian Press
Sign up to receive the most important updates in your inbox two times a week
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, orange, emerging from the surface of cells, green, cultured in the lab. (NIAID-RML via AP)
Four children were found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer on Quebec's North Shore on Saturday, according to Quebec provincial police (SQ).
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
Four children were found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer on Quebec's North Shore on Saturday, according to Quebec provincial police (SQ).
Some members of Canada's Chinese diaspora are feeling the pressure to carry the torch as Hong Kong's renowned vigil commemorating the June 4, 1989, massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square falls silent.
Democrats are deeply conflicted about the food aid requirements that President Joe Biden negotiated as part of the debt ceiling deal, fearing damage has been done to safety net programs that will be difficult to unravel in the years ahead as Republicans demand further cuts.
Turkiye's longtime leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, took the oath of office on Saturday, ushering in his third presidential term that followed three stints as prime minister.
A gun battle involving an Egyptian border guard in southern Israel along the border left three Israeli soldiers and the Egyptian officer dead Saturday, officials said. It was a rare instance of deadly violence along the frontier.
Rescuers found no more survivors in the overturned and mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that derailed in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country's deadliest rail crashes in decades, officials said Saturday.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vowed Saturday that Washington would not stand for any 'coercion and bullying' of its allies and partners by China, while assuring Beijing that the United States remains committed to maintaining the status quo on Taiwan and would prefer dialogue over conflict.
Two Florida men who stormed the U.S. Capitol with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers group were sentenced Friday to three years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, the latest in a historic string of sentences in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
Jenny Kwan has been outspoken against human-rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party and often advocates for the country's Uyghur Muslim minority. The Hong Kong-born member of Parliament said in an interview with The Canadian Press that that's what made her an 'evergreen' target of the Chinese government.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters on Thursday that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, director Christopher Nolan offers a guide to his favourite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don't feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theatre.
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,' 'On Broadway,' 'Walking in the Rain' and dozens of other hits, has died at age 82.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
The wildfires plaguing residents in Alberta and Nova Scotia are part of a larger trend that's driving up the cost of home insurance as extreme weather becomes more common, insurance experts say.
Max Verstappen made it a sweep of fastest lap times in all three practice sessions at the Spanish Grand Prix despite the Red Bull driver shooting down team orders to pick up the pace during the rain-hit P3 on Saturday.
America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.
