Canada is going to ban all flights from the UK starting from December 20, 2020 midnight. This will be in an additional effort to control the rapid spread of Covid-19.
Several senior Canadian government officials made this announcement on Twitter. This includes the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and Minister of Public Affairs, Bill Blair.
According to Blair, the travel restrictions will last for a minimum of 72 hours. After this period Canada will re-evaluate its policy.
Blair also made it clear that the policy means all flights flying from the UK to Canada will be canceled. This will be for the next three days.
As an explanation behind the thinking of this policy, Blair tweeted, “We are taking this important action to protect Canadians and to keep our communities safe. These measures have been imposed following advice from public health officials. The restrictions will initially be in place for 72 hours, after which time they could be extended or enhanced.”
Additionally, travelers who have already arrived from the UK today will have to undergo further secondary screenings.
According to the Canadian government, the suspension of all flights from the UK is because of a new strain of the Covid-19 spreading in the UK. However, very little is known about this new strain.
However, the Canadian government and worldwide health experts are studying this new strain. This will help improve their understanding of the dangers involved.
An investment of $40 million is made by the Canadian government. This is to support the Canadian Covid-19 Genomics Network to help study genetic variations of the virus as it evolves.
The new travel restrictions will be in addition to the ongoing restrictions Canada has had since March 2020.
Some foreign workers, new immigrants, family members, and foreign students are exempt from the restrictions. However, the majority of foreign nationals find themselves unable to enter Canada during this period.
There are a few exceptions for those who enter Canada as they are subject to a compulsory 14-day quarantine.
In May, Canada saw a peak in its new Covid-19 cases. This was before the country successfully contained the virus throughout the summer.
Since September, new Covid-19 cases have risen. Recently, they recorded a maximum of 7,000 new cases each day. This is in comparison with the peak during the springtime of 2,760 cases on May 3rd.
Canada began its largest vaccination campaign last week. This was with a rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Till now, Canada has to get a minimum of four million doses of this vaccine by the end of March 2021. This will be sufficient to vaccinate two million citizens. Health Canada is in the process of reviewing more vaccine options for approval.
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