Ontario to start mandatory traveller COVID-19 testing Monday
January 29, 2021
By
The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Ontario will make all international travellers take a COVID-19 test on arrival starting Monday.
A senior government source says the province will move forward with the traveller testing despite a similar federal program announced today that’s set to ramp up in the coming weeks.
The source says Ontario’s chief medical officer will use authority granted to him under public health legislation to impose the mandatory tests.
The testing order will come into effect Monday at Toronto’s Pearson International airport, and will also apply to the province’s land border crossings to the United States.
Premier Doug Ford has repeatedly called on the federal government to bring in mandatory testing for travellers as variant strains of COVID-19 spread around the world.
Ford is expected to announce the Ontario program at a news conference this afternoon with Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams.
The province is reporting 1,837 new cases of COVID-19 today and 58 more deaths related to the virus.
