Canada to reopen to fully vaccinated international travellers from September

Canada plans to reopen its borders to fully vaccinated international travelers from September and remove quarantine requirements for arriving passengers.

The Canadian government has announced its intention to relax coronavirus entry restrictions and open Canada’s borders to fully vaccinated travellers from countries worldwide from September 7.

This means that vaccinated holders of a Canada tourist ETA electronic travel authorization will soon be able to gain entry to the country without having to comply with other entry restrictions, such as the need to quarantine or take a COVID-19 test 8 days after arrival.

Canadian borders already opened to US citizens and permanent citizens who have been fully vaccinated on August 9, marking the first time that travellers from the United States have been able to enter Canada for nonessential purposes since strict coronavirus restrictions were implemented in March 2020.   

Additionally, although they have not yet been approved to receive vaccines in the United States, children under the age of 12 are also able to enter Canada without having to quarantine if they are accompanied by fully vaccinated parents or guardians.

Canada considers fully vaccinated travellers to be those who have received the last dose of an accepted vaccine at least 14 days before the date of intended arrival. The test must be uploaded to the ArriveCAN mobile app at least 72 hours before travelling.

The vaccines currently accepted by Canada include Moderna Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD,  and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson. Other vaccinations, such as Sinopharm, Sinovac, and Sputnik V have not yet been approved for use by the Canadian government, but maybe accepted in the near future.

Travellers who received their vaccinations outside of Canada must digitally upload their vaccine certificate in either English or French to the ArriveCAN app. Alternatively, it may be in another language accompanied by a certified translation into English or French.

While fully vaccinated passengers do not need to quarantine, all travellers over the age of 5 are still required to take a SARS-CoV-2 test before they arrive in Canada. This remains a mandatory requirement to enter Canada for vaccinated and non-vaccinated travellers alike, and airlines will not let anyone board their flight if they do not provide a valid test result.

The COVID test must have been taken at least 72 hours before departure of the last direct flight to Canada. Passengers who are transferring through a third country on their way to Canada may have to arrange a test in their port of transit. Those crossing into Canada via a land border should take the test within 72 hours of the expected time of entry.

Tests accepted are CRISPR, Ct, detection of the E gene, detection of the N gene, detection of Orf1a/b, detection of the RdRp gene, detection of the S gene, ddPCR, isothermal amplification, LamPORE, NAAT, NAT, NGS, PCR, qPCR, RNA, RT-LAMP, RT-PCR, sequencing, and WGS.

The only passengers exempt from this requirement are those that can provide proof of a positive COVID-19 test taken at least 15 days and at most 180 days before departure of the last direct flight to Canada. The testing method must also be one of those listed above.

While it is now not mandatory for fully vaccinated travellers to take a test on arrival, the Canadian government has confirmed that they will continue molecular testing on some randomly selected arriving passengers “to continue monitoring variants of concern in Canada and vaccine effectiveness".

Authorities have also advised all travellers to have a quarantine plan in place in case a border official decides they do not meet the entry requirements and need to self-isolate on arrival.

In addition to removing the mandatory quarantine for vaccinated passengers, the government has also expanded the number of airports at which international flights can arrive. These now include Calgary (YYC), Edmonton (YEG), Halifax (YHZ), Montreal (YUL), Ottawa (YOW), Quebec (YQB), Toronto (YYZ), Vancouver (YVR), and Winnipeg (YWG). Nevertheless, Canada has extended the ban on flights from India until August 21st.

While Canada is now allowing fully vaccinated citizens of the United States entry to the country, it has not yet been confirmed if the US will reciprocate. The American government has said that Canadian citizens will not be permitted to undertake nonessential travel to the USA until August 21 at the earliest, a rule that also applies to travellers planning to cross the Mexican land border.

It is likely that they will also need to be fully vaccinated to be exempt from quarantine requirements. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has confirmed that travel restrictions are currently under review, but said that “any decisions about re-opening travel will be guided by our public health and medical experts”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains hopeful that the US will soon permit entry to fully vaccinated citizens of Canada. However, he also noted that Canadian officials “understand and respect that every country makes its own decisions about what it does at its border”.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)