Canada announces three-month ban on flights into Caribbean, Mexico
Gavin Riley / Our Today
administrator
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadian air carriers have unanimously agreed to suspend flights into warmer countries in the Caribbean and Mexico effective Sunday, January 31—in efforts to curtail further spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Trudeau, speaking to reporters on Friday (January 29), said Air Canada, Sunwing, Air Transat and WestJet are cancelling all flights to sun-kissed, warmer destinations. The flight suspension will last until Sunday, April 30.
Trudeau also told reporters that all arriving airline passengers would be required to take a mandatory COVID-19 test at the airport and then wait in a hotel at their own expense until the results arrive.
The second wave of the pandemic has walloped Canada in recent weeks, as the North American country saw cases dangerously peak on January 8, confirming 8,301 new infections.
As at Friday, January 29, Canada confirmed 4,547 new cases, bringing the national total to 769,236. Some 694,070 Canadian patients have made a full recovery from the infectious disease, while 19,772 persons have died from coronavirus-related complications.
The Government of Canada has repeatedly warned against non-essential travel, and imposed new re-entry requirements on confirmation of the United Kingdom and South African COVID-19 variants being detected in the country.
More details to come later.
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