Ottawa requiring COVID-19 testing for some travellers, consulting experts on booster shots

Incoming air travellers from all countries except the United States will be required to take COVID-19 tests when arriving in Canada, the federal government announced today.

The tests will be required of all travellers, regardless of their vaccination status, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said today. The requirement will also apply to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Incoming travellers will have to self-isolate until they receive results of the test.

Duclos said the new testing requirement will go into effect "as quickly and as much as possible over the next few days."

The new measure is part of Canada's rapidly evolving strategy to contain the spread of the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

The variant's emergence last week has prompted the return of border closures, travel restrictions and stricter testing requirements across the world.

WATCH | Health minister Jean-Yves Duclos on banning travellers from certain countries

Canada's attempt to contain the variant now includes bans on travellers from 10 nations, all of them in Africa. The government named seven nations to its restricted list last week, and today added Egypt, Malawi and Nigeria.

Incoming travellers from those 10 countries will have to quarantine in designated facilities, officials said. Other travellers will be allowed to quarantine at home or at other locations.

Public health officials said the nations were singled out because of a higher than normal number of positive test results among travellers arriving from those countries.

But the introduction of travel bans has been criticized as ineffective and discriminatory toward African nations where vaccines are not widely available. There are also concerns that a global backlash against the region could dissuade other countries from reporting future variants.

The omicron variant has also now been detected across the globe — in countries including Canada, Israel and Hong Kong, among others.

Provincial governments in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have confirmed local cases of the variant. Federal health officials say there are at least six cases of the variant in Canada so far.

"There will be, most likely, community transmission of the new variant at some point in Canada," Duclos said.