Travellers entering Canada from China must show negative COVID-19 test

Amid a surge of cases of COVID-19 in China, the government of Canada will begin requiring all travellers, including Canadians from that country to show a negative COVID test.

The federal government says it is a temporary measure to deal with the surge, but the policy change is being criticized by many medical experts as ineffective and unnecessary.

With hospitals and funeral homes overwhelmed by a surge of COVID-19 cases in China,
Canada has joined a list of more than a dozen countries imposing new travel restrictions.

For 30 days beginning on Thursday, Jan. 5, all air travellers aged two and up arriving from China, Hong Kong, or Macao will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than two days prior to flying.

In a statement, the federal minister of transport Omar Alghabra explains the decision, writing, “we will adapt our measures based on available data, the science, and the epidemiological situation in our country and globally to protect Canadians.”

Doctors CHCH News spoke with say the policy change won’t do anything to protect Canadians. “It probably wouldn’t really help controlling anything at this stage… at this point, we have a good wall of immunity that we’ve built up generally,” Tim Sly from the Toronto Metropolitan University said.

“Purely from the standpoint is this going to reduce transmission, even in the worst case scenario and there is some variant there that is now going to reach outside of China, it won’t,” Dr. Zain Chagla from St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton said.

All doctors CHCH News spoke with suggest the real motivation for the new policy could be political. “Most western nations are doing this and I think part of it is that,” Kerry Bowman from the Unversity of Toronto said.

The U.S., U.K., South Korea, Spain, and France are among the growing list of Canadian allies making this change.