Starting October 1st, Canada will lift all COVID travel restrictions.
In a press conference on Monday, the federal government announced that incoming travelers to Canada won’t have to test, quarantine, submit vaccination status or use ArriveCAN. They will also end face mask requirements on trains and planes.
The decision to end the border restrictions came from public health officials. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared, “There is the sense that these border measures were no longer effective, or no longer justified.”
This announcement seems to follow a larger trend in countries around the world easing their rules for incoming tourists, with Japan announcing plans to reopen last week and Hong Kong dropping quarantine for international travelers.
Trudeau says the pandemic is far from over, with many patients still in hospitals battling COVID. He urges Canadians to stay on top of their shots, stating, “the more people get up to date in their shots, the more resilient we will be as a country to any future waves of Covid.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says Canada currently has a “high” risk for COVID-19 and warns people to travel with caution when going to Canada.