Canada Has Extended Its Flight Ban Following Concerns Of Covid-19 Variant
Following concerns of the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, Canada has extended its flight ban from India and Pakistan.
Both countries are believed to have high numbers of the ‘double-mutant’ variant, which the World Health Organization called a “variant of concern” on May 10.
The Canadian government first implemented a 30-day flight ban for India and Pakistan in April. The ban was scheduled to expire on May 22, but the federal government announced it would extend the ban until at least July 21.
There are some exceptions to this ban: cargo flights can enter from both countries to maintain the supply of items like vaccines and personal protective equipment.
Passengers may still travel to Canada from these countries as long as they enter directly from a third country. However, , passengers must first obtain a negative COVID-19 test .
According to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, the ban was put in place “based on public health advice to reduce the importation risk of COVID-19 and its variants.”
He added that “we’ve seen a significant reduction in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 arriving from international flights since this restriction was put in place.”
Dr. Howard Njoo, who is Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, also spoke of the decision. He said that roughly 70 percent of new COVID-19 cases are variants of concern.
“It’s another layer of protection,” said Njoo. “It’s important to have these measures in place, and we recognize that although importation of variants is a small part of what’s happening with respect to the situation in Canada, anything we can do in terms of that added layer is important at this time.”
You can learn more about COVID-19 and its variants here.
Share this article
Arghavan Gerami
Arghavan Gerami is the Founder and Senior Counsel at Gerami Law Professional Corporation ('PC'), a full-service immigration law firm in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 2011, Ms. Gerami has focused her practice on immigration and refugee litigation. Prior to that, Ms. Gerami worked at the Ministry of Attorney General and the Department of Justice and had the privilege of serving the Honourable Mr. Justice M. Evans at the Federal Court of Appeal on immigration and administrative law appeals. Ms. Gerami contributes to the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Ms. Gerami has also published numerous journal articles and presented at various immigration and refugee law conferences and events across Canada.