Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government is “looking seriously” at tougher travel measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandatory hotel quarantines for air travellers returning from non-essential trips abroad.
“I would like to stress that we are taking this measure very, very seriously. We are considering the issue very, very seriously,” Freeland said in a news conference Monday in response to a question about the potential quarantine rule.
Freeland’s remarks, given in French, build on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s publicly expressed openness earlier this month to tighter restrictions, sparking questions about how a stricter isolation regime would work.
Countries from South Korea to Australia that have repelled the virus by inbound carriers require 14-day hotel quarantines for passengers arriving from abroad.
In New Zealand, which had 64 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday, passengers head straight to a “managed isolation facility” – a hotel – if they have no symptoms or a “quarantine facility” if they do.
In South Korea, new arrivals must self-isolate for two weeks at a government-designated facility at their own expense or at their home, and must download a tracking app to ensure compliance.
The potential quarantine requirement would deter leisure travel, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious-disease physician at St. Joseph’s hospital in Hamilton, Ont., and an associate professor at McMaster University.
Rather than rigid adherence to two weeks of isolation, the move should include scheduled testing that might allow guests who come up negative to go home early, he said.
“Whether or not it has to be the entire 14 days or a shorter amount followed by testing is still up in the air,” Chagla said.
Most cases are detectable after seven days – including mutated strains of the virus – he added, citing data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal figures suggest between two and five per cent of COVID-19 cases in Canada are linked to travel, but there is still virtually no testing at the border and many recent cases do not have an identified source.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday the government should consider mandatory hotel quarantines as well as outright bans on non-essential international travel, which Quebec Premier Francois Legault has also called for.
“It’s more difficult to travel within your own province or frankly within Canada … than it is to jump on a flight and travel across the world. So, some measure to limit non-essential air travel – I think there’s a strong case to be made,” Singh said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called on Trudeau to mandate testing of all arrivals, by air and land, saying he had confidence Ottawa would require it.
“But we need it now,” Ford said. “Every time I look up in the sky I’m thinking, `How many cases are coming in?”’
More than 150 international flights with confirmed COVID-19 cases have touched down in Canada in the past two weeks, according to figures from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The infected arrivals come despite new rules effective Jan. 7 that require passengers returning from abroad to show proof of negative results on a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure.
Canada has also barred most foreigners from entering the country since March, and requires two weeks of self-isolation at home upon return.