Fully vaccinated travelers will not need to show a negative COVID-19 test prior to entering Canada beginning on April 1.
The country will also not require an individual to receive a booster shot to be considered fully vaccinated.
“Adjustments to Canada’s border measures are made possible by a number of factors, including Canada’s high vaccination rate, the increasing availability and use of rapid tests to detect infection, decreasing hospitalizations and growing domestic availability of treatments for COVID-19,” Jean-Yves Duclos, the country’s Minister of Health said in the March 17 announcement. “As vaccination levels and healthcare system capacity improve, we will continue to consider further easing of measures at the borders — and when to adjust those measures — to keep the people in Canada safe.”
Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated travelers will still be required to quarantine and to show a negative COVID-19 upon arrival and on days 8 and 14 of isolation.
Canada’s Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance commended the announcement.
“After a challenging two years, we all want the Canadian economy, including the tourism sector, to rebound and grow,” said Randy Boissonnault. “We in government have been listening to the concerns of tourism businesses across the country. … The economy, workers and tourism business owners will benefit from this next step in opening Canada up once again to the world.”
COVID-19 cases in Canada have continuously declined since early January. According to data from the World Health Organization, the country had 16,909 confirmed cases of the virus on March 14.
Since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, approximately 36,990 deaths in Canada have been attributed to COVID-19.
Provinces in Canada have also revised their COVID-19 regulations in recent days.
“Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said last week it would scrap virtually all pandemic-related public health measures by end-April, citing the reduced threat of the pandemic,” reports Reuters. “Other provinces, including Alberta and Quebec, have also announced an easing of restrictions.”
For the last two years, transit between the United States and Canada has been “severely limited,” per the Times Union.
The nation’s strict border policies enacted in the wake of the pandemic ultimately led truckers to caravan across the country in protest. The movement, known as the Freedom Convoy 2022, culminated in a weeks-long occupation of the nation’s capital as truckers refused to move their vehicles in downtown Ottawa.
