Canada is reopening its airspace and land borders with the U.S. to fully vaccinated Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Effective July 5, visitors will no longer need to undergo a 14-mandatory quarantine or pay for a hotel quarantine package.
“To be very clear, fully vaccinated travelers still need to meet a series of requirements including pre and on-arrival testing,” Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health told reporters last week.
To unlock access to Canada, travelers must download “ArriveCAN App” before departure and upload their vaccination records as well as their negative COVID-19 test taken no longer than 72 hours prior to arrival. This process can also be done through their official website.
The Canada Border Services Agency warned potential travelers that those who do not meet these requirements will not be considered eligible to travel to Canada under the new rules.
Authorities have highlighted they will only accept those who have received a full course of one of the four vaccines approved for use in Canada at least 14 days before arrival.
“If you were unable to come to Canada on July 4 of this year, you can’t come in on July 5 — there’s been no change to all of the restrictions and the provisions that have been issued on that front,” said Denis Vinette, CBSA vice-president.
The federal government is set to receive 3.7 million more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines this week.
With this new shipment the country expects to be able to administer two shots to more than 75 percent of eligible patients.
This cautious lifting of restrictions will be limited to Canada and the U.S. for the time being.
Additionally, the land border will remain closed to the rest of Americans and unvaccinated Canadians at least until July 21.