Canada opens borders to visitors

TRENTON, Canada

Foreign visitors are once again welcome to Canada by air as coronavirus travel restrictions were eased Tuesday.

But visitors who wish to avoid quarantine rules must have had their final COVID-19 vaccine shot at least 14 days before arrival and carry proof of a negative test for the virus that was done within the last three days.

Visitors must also be able to use the ArriveCan app, which shows essential travel information, on their smartphone, or provide the information via an online web portal.

Denis Vinette, president of the travel branch of the Canadian Border Services Agency, told the Canadian Press news service that most foreign visitors are expected to arrive by air. The new rules make it easier for officials to determine if visitors have met entry requirements before boarding a flight to Canada.

"The great thing in air is that you've got the airline working with you, who will not allow individuals to get on if they're not meeting all of the requirements," said Vinette said. "The land border is a different beast."

Travelers must have been inoculated by one of the four vaccines approved by the Canadian government - Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, or the single-dose Johnson and Johnson.

The rules have been eased despite the fact that the COVID-19 case numbers, which had slackened, are on the rise once again.

"While cases are currently increasing in Canada, the illness severity and hospitalization rates remain manageable as Canada's vaccination rates continue to rise," the border agency said in an earlier statement.

The last 28-day case total for Canada is 73,962, while deaths numbered 394, according to a worldwide running total of statistics kept by the US-based Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. There are 37,577 active cases as of Tuesday, as reported by the Worldometer virus monitoring center.