Why tougher quarantines and screening might be better than an India flight ban at stopping COVID-19 variants

The discovery of a new possibly more virulent coronavirusvariant in India hasprompted Canada to institute a 30-day ban on passenger flights from that countryand neighbouring Pakistan while it assesses the situation.

The ban takes effect Thursday night.

But some health experts arguetargeting specific countries won't stem the tide, as numerousvariants including the strain first detected in Indiahave already spread across the globe.

"I do believe it's a mistake to single out any one country or any one part of the worldbecause these viruses have already spread into many different areas," said Dr. Andrew Simor, an infectious disease specialist at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

"The most effective thing is screening on arrival and in particular, quarantine on arrival."

The federal government currently bans most non-essential foreign travellers from entering Canada, and requires those allowed to enter to take multiple COVID-19 tests and complete a 14-day quarantine.

But some critics argue the rules don't go far enough or provide loopholes so Canada's most effective move now would be totoughen upits screening and quarantine measures.

"The current travel restrictions are rather porous," said Simor.

India's new variant

COVID-19 cases are surging in India, which could be fuelled by a new variant in the country B1617 that may be more contagious and/or more deadlybecause it involves two mutations of the virus

As a result, some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, restricted travel from the country earlier this week.

That sparked demands from some federal opposition leadersthatCanadafollow suit by restricting travel from India and other global hotspots.

The demand was fuelled by news reports tallying thenumber ofrecent flights from IndiatoCanada carryingpassengers who have tested positive forCOVID-19.

Out of 117 flights toCanada between April 5 and 17, the government reported that 29 flights from Indiacarried at least one infected passenger.

But 23Canada-bound flights fromEuropeand 22Canada-boundflights from the U.S. also carried infected passengers during the same time period.Several COVID-19 variants are spreading in both those regionsincluding theB1617variant first detected in India.

And B1617 has already hit Canada, with cases reported in Quebec and B.C.

"It's already here," said Caroline Colijn, a COVID-19 modeller at Simon Fraser University. "We sound the alarm now, but it had plenty of opportunity to get all over Asia and all over the world."

Considering the global spread of severalCOVID-19 variants, University of Ottawa epidemiologist Raywat Deonandan said a more prudent move would be for Canada to temporarily ban non-essential travel fromacross the globe.

"Nothing prevents someone from travelling from India to a second country and arriving from there," he said of the proposed ban. "So [there are] loopholes."

Still no tests for essential travellers

When announcing its 30-day ban on flights from India and Pakistan, the government said itspandemic travel measures have been effective at limiting the spread of the coronavirus.

"Since March of last year, Canada has had robust travel restrictions and border measures in place ...and data show that our government our measures have been working," said TransportMinisterOmar Alghabra.

But some experts say those measures need to be strengthened.

Currently, to ensure the free flow of goods and services during the pandemic, most essential workers such as truck drivers and flight crew are exempt from Canada's rules requiring incoming travellers to take multiple COVID-19 tests and quarantine.

But critics argue essential workers crossing the border should at least be tested for COVID-19.

"If you have the tools to at the very least do a cursory screening, in this case a rapid [COVID-19] test, why wouldn't you do it?" said Deonandan.

Canada considers halting air travel from India over surging cases, variant

3 years ago

Duration 2:13

Canada is considering a halt to air travel from India, especially after a variant of interest first seen in that country was detected in Canada.

Long-haul truck driver Rick McNabb of Waterloo, Ont. would also like to see routine testing for truckers.

He said he follows strict COVID-19 safety protocols, but still fell ill with COVID-19 three weeks ago. McNabb believes he got the virus during one of his weekly trips, hauling goods to Wisconsin, where he says many people don't take the pandemic seriously.

"I would say less than 50 per cent of people wear masks," he said. "They're kind of in denial, they don't believe it's real, they don't really care."

In February, Ottawa said it was exploring tests for essential workers at the border, but has not yet presented concrete plans.

Hotel quarantine concerns

To help curb the spread of COVID-19 variants, the government recently mandated that air passengers entering Canada must take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and quarantine for up to three days in a designated hotel to wait for the results.

Shortly after the rules took effect on Feb. 22, it soon became apparent that some passengers were circumventing the hotel quarantine requirement, sometimes by refusing to check into a quarantine hotel which could result in a fine.

Deonandan said the government needs to do a better job to make sure travellers comply with the new rules.

"Are you an incoming traveller? Yes in that case you are going to be cordoned and sent to that bus over there that will take you to the hotel. That's the price to travel now."

CBC News asked the Public Health Agency of Canada about stronger enforcement for travellers required to quarantine in a hotel, but has yet to receive a reply.

SFU's Colijn agrees that Canada needs to be more vigilant on the home front. She said that banning flights to India seems like an easy fix, but that testing and monitoring travellers entering the country is now where Canada can best prevent them from spreading the virus.

"These other things are really hard, but they're what we have to do if we want to prevent dangerous new variants from arriving."