Those who like to travel abroad have become used to the fact that they need to undergo COVID testing before crossing the border to another country. In the case of those willing to travel to Canada, there will be some exceptions starting very soon.
According to USA TODAY, those who are vaccinated for the coronavirus won’t need to take the pre-departure COVID test anymore if they want to go to Canada. The new rule is expected to be enacted starting the first day of April 2022. Furthermore, tourists won’t even need to be ‘boosted’ in order to be considered fully vaccinated. Canada’s Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos made the announcement himself.
The rule benefits the travel and tourism industry of Canada
David Rheault, who is vice president of government and community relations at Air Canada, declared as USA Today quotes:
The removal of pre-departure testing requirements will continue to accelerate and stimulate the recovery of Canada’s travel and tourism industry, which we are committed to help rebuild through the restoration of our global network.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers Canada to pose a high risk of infection with COVID. Here’s what the government agency wrote:
If you must travel to Canada, make sure you are vaccinated and up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before travel,
Even if you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines, you may still be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19.
According to data provided by worldometers.info, Canada is currently reporting significantly lower numbers of COVID infections than it was reporting in the first two months of 2022. More than 37,000 people from the country died so far because of the coronavirus since the pandemic started, according to the same source. There’s also some good news: more than 3.2 million people were recovered.
