Negative COVID-19 test will soon be required at land border: Trudeau

Non-essential travellers entering Canada through the land border will soon need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test before arrival, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today.

"As of Feb.15, when you return to Canada through alandborder, you'll need to show a 72-hour PCR test, just like air travel," Trudeau said todayduring his regularmorning media briefing outside Rideau Cottage.

The prime minister said border officers can't legally deny entry to Canadians, but those who show up without proof of a test could face fines of up to $3,000.

"What we can do is in cases of no test to show [is]apply a stiff penalty, a fine and demand and ensure a rapid and complete followup to make sure that they are getting tested,that they are being properly quarantined, that they are not putting at risk the safety of other Canadians by returning home without a clear negative test," Trudeau said.

"As of next Monday people who show up at a Canadian land border on non-essential travel ...like returning snowbirds,will be expected to show a negative PCR test from the previous 72 hours."

The new measurecomesmore than a month after the government announced air travellers will needproof of negative polymerase chain reaction tests commonly known as PCR tests three days before boarding their flights home.

Those landing by plane also willsoon need to pay for a test after they land as well.The governmentpromised in lateJanuary that all air passengers returning from non-essential trips abroad will have to self-isolate in a federally mandated facility for up to 72 hours at their own expense.

It's still not clear when those new restrictive measures come into place.

The testing requirement is in addition to the mandatory 14-day quarantine period for returning non-essential travellers. The government has hadtravel restrictionson most foreign nationals in place since March 2020.

No exemption for Canadians who have been vaccinated, yet

Dr. Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, said last weekthere is no exemption yet for Canadians who already havereceived a vaccine.

"Thevaccineswe have are very effective for individual protection and that's what we might expect, but you as an individual do not know whether you are completely protected or not," she said Friday.

"It is a 90 per centvaccineeffectiveness.You could be in the 10 per cent of the population that may have not taken to thevaccine.You still have to respect those public health measures.That is critical ...right now, the scientific principle underpinning the application ofvaccinesfor international travel cannot be made ...because we do not know thevaccinesreduce transmission."

Most of the people who cross into Canada are actually exempt from quarantine, largely because they are considered essential workers.

The Canada Border Services Agencysaid that between March 31, 2020 and Jan.24, 2021,close to 8.7 million travellers came to Canada; 74 per cent of themwere exempt from the 14-day quarantine measures. The number is even higher atthe land border alone:92 per centof those crossing the borderwere exempt during that time period.

About 4.3 million travellers almost half the overall number were truck drivers,said the border agency.

CBSA said the term "traveller" doesn't meanindividuals and a person could cross several times and be counted each time.