IATA blasts Canada’s new testing rule for inbound air passengers

Airlines trade group IATA has blasted the government of Canada after it imposed new travel restrictions on inbound air passengers beginning later this week. The organisation Sunday voiced its “deep frustration” at the country’s plans to introduce an additional coronavirus testing burden on arriving travellers, calling the new rules “callous and impractical”. The requirement is to take effect on 7 January. IATA also criticises the government for a stipulation making airlines responsible for ensuring passengers’ compliance with the regulation, saying “it cannot be the airline’s role to determine if a passenger tried their utmost to get tested or not”. “Canada already has one the world’s most draconian Covid-19 border-control regimes, including travel bans and quarantines,” IATA says. Adding the testing requirement is “the worst of both worlds”. “While the industry for months has been calling for systematic testing to reopen borders without quarantine measures, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears, especially in Canada,” the association adds. Canadian government officials said on 30 December that beginning in early January, all arriving passengers would be required to present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result that is less than 72h old. That’s in addition to the mandatory 14-day quarantine for all inbound passengers which has been in effect since March. Unlike in other countries, where passengers arriving with proof of a negative coronavirus test are permitted to bypass quarantines, Canada’s new rule requires passengers isolation even if they test negative.<br/>