Sufferers who want medical remedy in a foreign country won’t must comply with new COVID-19 testing and quarantine guidelines required for these getting into Canada.
Official laws posted on the federal authorities web site verify that individuals receiving “important medical providers” abroad won’t must bear exams and necessary quarantines if they’ve a written assertion from a licensed well being care practitioner in Canada — and from a practitioner within the nation the place they’re receiving the remedy — affirming that the remedy is important.
Proof of a unfavorable polymerase chain response check — also called a PCR check — is now required for non-essential travellers crossing into Canada by way of the land border.
The check end result should be obtained inside 72 hours of arriving on the border however important employees — akin to truckers, emergency service suppliers and people in cross-border communities — are exempt.
After passing by the land border, travellers must take one other check upon arrival and a 3rd check close to the top of their 14-day quarantine durations.
That extra layer of testing comes into impact on Feb. 22 — the identical day air passengers touchdown in Canada will probably be subjected to a brand new rule requiring them to quarantine in a resort at their very own expense for as much as 72 hours whereas they anticipate PCR check outcomes.
The price of these resort stays is estimated at about $2,000, however it is determined by the place the traveller is isolating. Passengers might want to ebook a resort within the metropolis through which they first arrive: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto or Montreal.
Quarantine presents monetary burden
Vancouver resident Kimberly Muise, who travels to Los Angeles each month to participate in an immunotherapy scientific trial to deal with Stage 4 cervical most cancers, instructed CBC Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton on Sunday {that a} necessary quarantine on the traveller’s expense can be a monetary burden.
Reacting to affirmation of the exemptions in a authorities order-in-council (OIC), Muise stated Tuesday she’s glad the federal government listened to Canadians’ issues.
“It will make an enormous distinction in my life and the lifetime of my household as I proceed my battle with most cancers,” she stated in an e mail to CBC.
“I do know that the inclusion of important medical providers and remedy on this OIC will even enhance the lives of so many Canadians who require medical remedy exterior of Canada and have been equally going through nearly insufferable stress in coping with their important journey in the course of the pandemic.”
In an interview Sunday, Public Security Minister Invoice Blair had instructed Barton that there will probably be some leeway in figuring out what constitutes important journey and that the federal government will deal appropriately with “compelling and compassionate instances,” akin to folks receiving medical remedy overseas.
Blair stated Muise’s case had been delivered to his consideration already by her native member of Parliament and he was speaking to the Public Well being Company of Canada and British Columbia’s well being authority about her scenario.
“We need to be sure that that lady can obtain her remedy and put in measures that may shield her, shield her household and shield her group, but additionally take care of the distinctive circumstances that that lady is experiencing in an acceptable approach,” he stated.
