The Canadian government has introduced new rules to ease the Covid-19 restrictions for travellers from India. The news brought some relaxation to Indians who were facing difficulties migrating or travelling back to Canada since the pandemic started.
In April 2021, Canada banned direct flights from India due to the increasing number of cases. But they were resumed by fall, owing to control over the spread. The testing requirements, however, remained the same.
Now, various testing and isolation-related changes have been made in the latest Covid-19 regulations. The federal government is looking for all the possible solutions to improve the mobility of people between India and Canada. With these relaxed restrictions, people have easier access to travel to Canada.
As per the new Covid-19 guidelines, people travelling to Canada will have to show a negative molecular test before boarding a flight to the country. The same is to be produced by people at the land borders. Earlier, the negative test results were to be not more than 18 hours old, but that requirement has been removed.
Along with that, Canada will now accept PCR test results from any lab recognized by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Until January 28, only a single lab in New Delhi airport was authorized for PCR testing that was acceptable at Canadian borders. Because of that people from Bangalore, Mumbai or Hyderabad had to travel to Delhi first and spend more than 24 hours in transit to get a test. So the new policy came as a reliever for people travelling from all across India.
Another policy was for travellers who had Covid-19 from 10 to 180 days prior to their departure. They could present their positive PCR test and be exempted from taking a paid one at the border. They must also wait at least 11 days (from the day they were tested positive) to return to the country.
Various Canadian provinces and territories have also changed their isolation requirements for people who test positive and who came in contact with them. These requirements are not aligned with the border measures anymore. For example, vaccinated individuals travelling to British Columbia are required to isolate for 5 days after a positive test result.
Because of the continuous changes in Covid-19 restrictions, people have been worried about booking travel to and from Canada. Before the pandemic, Canada had a high volume of immigrating population, but that pattern changed in the last two years due to these evolving policies. Also, many people living in Canada didn’t go anywhere as they were concerned about getting stuck outside the country, which could incur additional expenditure as well.
However, during the last few weeks, there were more bookings than during the entire pandemic phase. As the restrictions are getting lifted people are getting their freedom to travel again. Additionally, many tour operators and insurance companies are offering special Covid-19 insurance plans to make it more convenient for travellers.
Although the restrictions haven’t been completely revoked, several changes have been made in the latest revision. These new guidelines became a celebration for plenty of Indian travellers waiting to visit Canada, especially after such a long period of strict regulations.
