Canada Lifting Quarantine Requirements for Vaccinated Travelers Starting July 5
by Daniel McCarthy
Photo: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com.
Canadians who are fully vaccinated will be getting a late Canada Day present.
The Government of Canada today announced that starting July 5 at 11:59 p.m. EST, all Canadians and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to enter the country without quarantining for 14-days.
“Recently we shared Canadians that thanks to their efforts, we can begin to adjust measurements at the border,” Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced on Monday morning.
“Beginning on July 5, fully vaccinated travelers who are permitted to enter Canada will no longer be subject to the federal requirement to quarantine. Fully vaccinated travelers will not be required to take a COVID-19 test on day eight or stay at a government authorized hotel,” she said.
The Government called the move a continuation of “a responsible, precautionary approach at the border” and said that it would continue to monitor all “available data and scientific evidence” in its decision-making process.
The new rule only applies to those who have been fully vaccinated with two weeks passed since the final dose of their vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, or, Johnson & Johnson, or AstraZeneca). Those traveling into Canada will have to provide proof of vaccination both prior to entry, through Canada’s ArriveCan travel app, and in person at the border. All travelers must also be asymptomatic when they cross.
Other requirements will still apply for those who are vaccinated, including pre-and on-arrival testing. Canada is keeping those in place, it said, in order to monitor positivity rates at the border and monitor for “variants of concern.”
Those who are not yet fully vaccinated will still only be able to enter under rules that include staying in a quarantine hotel and a 14-day isolation. And those who are fully vaccinated but are traveling before July 5 will also have to continue to travel under those old rules.
Canada is still urging its citizens to avoid non-essential travel. The Government’s warning continues to read “during the COVID-19 pandemic, we strongly advise Canadians to cancel or postpone non-essential travel plans outside of Canada. Now is not the time to travel.” Canada’s restrictions on non-essential international and U.S. travel also remain in place until at least July 21.
The Government is also continuing to require international flights to come through one of four of Canada’s major airports—Montreal-Trudeau, Toronto Pearson, Calgary, and Vancouver.
