COVID-positive travellers fell through cracks, quarantine hotel system flawed: AG report
CTV
The Public Health Agency of Canada struggled to enforce COVID-19 restrictions at the border through the first half of 2021, resulting in failures to contact positive COVID-19 cases and uncertainty over whether those required to be tested or stay in a hotel quarantine actually did so, according to the Auditor General.
In a new report issued Thursday, Auditor General Karen Hogan identified “significant gaps” in the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)’s administration of emergency travel measures that came into effect in early 2021.
Specifically, she called out major shortcomings with the enforcement of the requirement for incoming travellers to take a COVID-19 test 72 hours before arriving Canada, and the introduction of required quarantine hotel stays for returning travellers awaiting test results.
Not all air and land travellers actually completed their mandatory COVID-19 tests when coming back from international locations, Hogan found.
“We found gaps in the verification of mandatory COVID-19 tests for incoming travellers: 14 per cent of travellers did not complete an on-arrival test, and 26 per cent did not complete a post-arrival test,” reads the report.
