Sharjah24 – Reuters: Canada is set to announce on Friday that it is no longer obliging Canadian travelers returning from short foreign trips to take expensive molecular COVID-19 tests, a government source said on Wednesday.
The travel industry complains that the requirement to take PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, the most reliable commonly-used method of detecting COVID-19, is deterring tourism.
Canadians who make trips of 72 hours or less to the United States will no longer need a PCR test when they return home, said the source, who requested anonymity.
The news was first reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The requirement was decried as a major impediment by business and travelers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border because it deterred short trips by cross-border day trippers, many looking for shopping deals.
Three-quarters of Canadian trips to the United States in 2019 were by car, according to Statistics Canada. That year, Canadians made 21.5 million car trips across the border that involved less than a day's stay.
On Nov. 8, the United States lifted an early 2020 travel ban in response to the coronavirus pandemic that barred access to most non-U.S. citizens traveling from 33 countries and restricted overland entry from Mexico and Canada.
Most travelers are required to show proof of vaccination in both directions but Canada had also required a negative PCR test.
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