TORONTO – The Canadian government said on Wednesday that passengers should have a negative COVID-19 test done within three days before arriving in the country.
Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, said the measure would be implemented within the next few days.
Canada already requires those entering the country to isolate themselves for 14 days and this has banned all UK flights due to the new variant of COVID-19 spreading there.
The decision comes a day after the prime minister of Canada’s largest province said he had ordered his finance minister to end a Caribbean holiday he had embarked on at some point.
Ontario’s Prime Minister Doug Ford said on Wednesday that it was “unacceptable” for Finance Minister Rod Phillips to travel to the French island of St. Petersburg. Barts go for the holidays.
“We’re going to have a very tough conversation when he comes back,” Ford said. “There can be no rules for chosen people and non-chosen people.”
Ford said Phillips “never told anyone” he was leaving, but Ford said he knew Phillips was out of the country “shortly after he arrived.”
“My fault. I take full responsibility. At that point I should have said ‘get your back in Ontario’ and I did not,” Ford said.
The finance minister’s Twitter account suggested he was in Ontario while in St. Louis. Barts was. In a video posted on Christmas Eve, he is shown sitting by a fireplace with a gingerbread house and a small Christmas tree drinking eggs.
Phillips said he would return immediately.
Opposition parties called for Phillips to be removed from the cabinet.
Phillips also traveled to Switzerland in August.
‘Some Canadians still travel for non-important reasons. This is deeply worrying. We must reiterate that this is not the time to travel, ”Howard Njoo, Canada’s Deputy Head of Public Health, said on Wednesday.
Ontario began a provincial exclusion on Dec. 26, with Ford accusing travelers of bringing the new coronavirus to the province.
The National Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario have both repeatedly asked Canadians not to travel abroad during the pandemic.
The Ford government has been criticized for stopping vaccinations during the holidays and delaying a provincial exclusion until after Christmas.
Ontario set a new business record with 2,923 on Wednesday, with just over a third of it in the country’s largest city in Toronto.