Source: Canada to quarantine travelers in hotels

An official familiar with the matter says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce stricter restrictions on travelers response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus

TORONTO — An official familiar with the matter says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce stricter restrictions on travelers response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition anonymity as they were not authorized to speak ahead of Friday’s planned announcement.

Trudeau has said such measures could be imposed suddenly and bluntly warned against nonessential trips abroad.

A second official said the reason for new measures is concern over new variants of the virus and said they are designed to discourage travel, especially to sunny destinations during March break. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak ahead of the announcement.

Canada already requires those entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days and to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days before arrival. The suggested measure would require isolating at a hotel rather than at home.

The measure would discourage vacations as people would not want to have to quarantine at a hotel at their own expense upon return.

“It’s excellent. It’s a shame it’s this late. This is something they could have done ages ago,” said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network.

“This is definitely a step in the right direction.”

More and more governments are thinking about ways to be more aggressive because of the new variants, delays in vaccines, the challenges with getting the population vaccinated and the strains on health care systems.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, is also going to make COVID-19 testing mandatory at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport for all incoming international travelers, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak about it ahead of an announcement later Friday by Ontario’s premier.

One of the officials said Premier Doug Ford has been calling on the federal government to implement mandatory testing for months and with a variant first detected in the U.K. now making its way into Ontario communities, they can’t afford to wait any longer.

Canada already requires a negative test for travelers before they get on a plane bound for Canada.