Canada will provide mandatory smear tests on more than 100 land crossings on its border with the United States as of Monday, Ottawa said, as concerns over the spread of new variants of the coronavirus grow.
© Lars Hagberg
The US-Canada border is expected to remain closed until March 21
“Travelers entering Canada across land borders, unless exempt, will be required to take a test using a self-smear kit,” said a statement from the Canadian Public Health Agency on Saturday.
“This test can be done at the traveler’s quarantine site or at a test site on the border.”
The border is currently closed for all but essential travel, a policy that is expected to last until March 21, after being extended on Friday.
Travelers entering Canada, unless they are exempt, must undergo two Covid-19 tests, one on the first day of arrival and another later in the 14-day quarantine period.
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As of Monday, air passengers arriving in Canada will have to go through a three-day quarantine at the hotel on their own, pending the results of a coronavirus test.
Canadian media reported that the telephone reservation system for government-approved hotels was experiencing long delays on Saturday.
The country’s director of public health, Theresa Tam, stressed on Friday the danger that an increasing number of coronavirus variants pose to Canadians, emphasizing the need for continuous surveillance in the face of the pandemic.
Canada on Saturday listed more than 840,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, with more than 21,000 deaths.
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