OTTAWA • Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has again urged Canadians not to travel abroad as his government could change travel rules very quickly due to Covid-19 variants.
At his Tuesday press conference in Ottawa, Mr Trudeau called on Canadians who have booked trips to cancel them, saying that a vacation is not worth it, given the uncertainty and chance of either contracting the virus or ending up stranded abroad.
He said his government is closely following the latest science on more transmissible strains, including those from Britain and Brazil.
Canada had a total of 718,828 Covid-19 cases and 18,238 deaths as at Tuesday afternoon, CTV reported.
The country has verified 23 cases of the variant first reported in Britain, and two cases of the variant first reported in South Africa, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Tuesday.
On average, Canada has seen close to 6,700 new cases being reported daily over the past week.
There is an average of about 4,775 individuals with Covid-19 being treated in Canadian hospitals, with more than 880 of them in critical care. More than 140 deaths are being reported each day, said the agency.
Despite a significant short-term gap in deliveries of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to Canada, Mr Trudeau said he is still confident the country is on track to vaccinate every Canadian who wants a shot by September.
Pfizer-BioNTech told Canada on Tuesday that it will receive no vaccines next week, and that supplies will be cut back sharply over the next three weeks. Pfizer earlier said it will slow production late this month and early next month due to manufacturing process changes.
The Canadian government has been telling residents not to take any non-essential trips. But Canadian airlines and travel companies continue to offer vacation packages and flight deals to warmer destinations, with flights departing from Canada daily.
Canada has had restrictions on international travellers entering the country since mid-March last year, as well as a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for anyone who returns from overseas trips.
Last month, the Trudeau government imposed new travel rules, including the requirement to show a negative Covid-19 test result before boarding a flight into Canada. Flights from Britain have also been banned.
XINHUA, REUTERS
