Canada begins easing US border restrictions

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Fully vaccinated Canadian citizens and permanent residents can now enter Canada from the US without quarantining for 14 days. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained at a press conference in Ontario this week that he would be gradually easing pandemic restrictions, with an announcement on the reopening of the US-Canada border expected in the next few weeks.

Canadians or permanent residents who are fully jabbed for Covid-19 will no longer have to stay in a government-approved hotel when arriving in Canada, but they will be required to take a PCR test on arrival and wait for the results.

“We will proceed in a responsible step-by-step fashion, re-opening and allowing larger numbers of people to come to Canada, but right now Canadians and Canadian residents can come back to Canada without having to quarantine,” Mr Trudeau told reporters.

“That’s a big step. We’re going to see travel volumes go up. We’re going to ensure airports and our travel facilities are able to handle the new surge.”

US vaccinated travellers will still have to quarantine when entering Canada. Mr Trudeau will keep Covid restrictions in place for non-Canadian citizens until at least 75 per cent of Canadians are fully vaccinated. Restrictions for non-essential travel will remain in place until 21 July, at the earliest.

“We’re very hopeful that we’re going to see new steps on reopening announced in the coming weeks,” he said.

Approximately 66 per cent of Canadians have had one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while roughly 36 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated, with 39.7 million doses given.

“We’re going to make sure that we’re not seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases because nobody wants to go back to further restrictions, after having done so much and sacrificed so much to get to this point,” said Mr Trudeau.

Canada has had 1.4 million recorded coronavirus cases and more than 26,000 deaths due to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.