As India grapples with soaring COVID-19 infection rates, the Canadian government is considering additional measures to prevent further spread of the virus from international travel.
In an interview with CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the federal government is looking at what tools they can have at their disposal.
“We are very actively considering all and any additional measures that… will be necessary to protect Canadians,” he said.
Blair said they could ground certain flights coming into Canada and they could “deal more effectively” when travellers present falsified test results.
Under the current rules, travellers flying into Canada are required to present a negative PCR test within 72 hours of their departure flight. Upon landing in Canada, they must take another test and quarantine in a designated government hotel until they receive the results of their second test.
However, the minister stopped short of saying the federal government is actively considering banning certain flights from India.
“What I can tell you is we have previously banned flights from areas where there was a high incidence of infection, particularly with the new variants, and we are actively considering the use of very similar tools, those tools, again, which we've demonstrated our willingness and ability to use those tools to protect Canadians and we're still quite prepared to do that,” he said.
Blair said he hoped to share more information on the specifics of these additional measures on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole called on the federal government to immediately, but temporarily suspend flights from hot-spot countries.
“Throughout April, dozens of COVID-positive flights have been landing in Canada. With them, they brought the risk of new variants, including the double mutated variant that is currently overwhelming India's health-care system,” O’Toole said. “We have a small window of opportunity to act, and we must move now.”
There were 35 flights from India with at least one COVID-19 case on board that arrived in Canada in the last two weeks, according to the government.