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Trudeau says he supports restricting interprovincial travel when necessary to stem spread of COVID-19

CBC/Radio-Canada  1 hour ago%7B© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito Premier John Horgan, left, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a news conference in 2019. Horgan told British Columbians this week that further restrictions could be coming to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The Prime Minister says he's supportive of provinces and territories closing their borders in order to protect their residents from the spread of COVID-19.

Justin Trudeau's comments to CBC Radio came a day after B.C. Premier John Horgan indicated he is considering restricting travel to and from the province to help stem the third wave of the pandemic.

Trudeau, asked Wednesday on CBC's Daybreak South whether he would support such a move by Horgan, said he has already backed similar pandemic travel restrictions elsewhere in the country.

"Every step of the way, I've been supporting premiers and territorial leaders on what they need to do to keep people safe," the Prime Minster said.

"As we saw with the Atlantic bubble, as we saw with the the Arctic territories, they make decisions around closing off the regions. That is something that we are supportive of."

He said the federal government's role is to help make those decisions easier for provinces by providing income assistance and financial supports for businesses.

On Tuesday, Horgan told reporters the possibility of travel restrictions will be discussed Wednesday by the provincial cabinet. Those talks will also likely examine the status of bookings for hotels, bed and breakfasts and camping sites.

"We've not taken anything off the table, but practicality is first and foremost in our mind," said Horgan.

"We will use the tools that are available to us if we believe they are effective, but deployment of those tools is a challenge. We haven't taken travel restrictions off the board, quite frankly."

Possible restrictions coming Thursday

The premier said Henry will provide any update of possible new restrictions Thursday, during a briefing in which the province's latest COVID-19 modelling data will be presented.

Tuesday's announcement was made less than a week after Horgan told CBC's On The Island he had no plans to further restrict travel, at least within B.C. — and that while it was "absolutely outrageous" for people to be travelling between the B.C. mainland and Vancouver Island, and while he did have the power to restrict ferry travel, he was not planning to.

"What do we do? Arrest them?" said Horgan about people choosing to vacation while the coronavirus continues to spread.

More than 1,500 people have died in B.C. due to COVID-19 and case numbers and hospitalizations have surged in recent weeks. Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix has warned high occupancy rates are beginning to affect the surgical capacity of local hospitals in some parts of the province.

%7B© Cory Correia/CBC A group of travellers arrive from Quebec en route to Whistler, B.C., on Feb. 28.

B.C. health officials are particularly concerned about the P1 variant of the virus, first detected in Brazil. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has confirmed some of those cases can be traced to travelling Canadians.

"It was likely that visitors from other parts of Canada initially introduced that strain," said Henry. She also said that some cases have been traced back to people who visited Whistler in February.

 

 

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Shut down travel between provinces to control spread of variants, experts say

covid-sask-flights-20200714.jpg

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Murthy said that P1 is spreading in large part through interprovincial and international travel. 
"I would not be surprised to see ongoing spread [of P1] across the country outside of the Atlantic provinces [which maintain a strict travel bubble] as interprovincial travel remains."
He said now is the time for provinces to limit travel to only the "absolutely essential," and the federal government should consider limiting domestic flights.
"I know our airline companies continue to travel across the country. That should be in question," said Murthy.

'Canada's border is particularly porous, calling the rules around international travel a "Swiss-cheese policy" because it has so many loopholes'

 

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Feds need new strategy on flights, vaccine effort

 

  • Calgary Sun
  • 18 Apr 2021
  • BRIAN LILLEY blilley@postmedia.com @brianlilley
img?regionKey=e42nE1gNiyE20zQn492q%2bA%3d%3d JUSTIN TRUDEAU

Justin Trudeau keeps saying that Canadians need to know that he has our backs and yet when it comes to two key actions he could take to help deal with COVID-19'S third wave, Trudeau won't act.

I'm talking about vaccines and incoming flights from international destinations.

“No matter where you live, know that we have your back,” Trudeau said Friday.

I will give the prime minister this much, his government moved fast on issues like CERB, the wage subsidy and other economic supports. It has corrected early mistakes and improved programs — some still need fixing but it's something.

Yet as Trudeau implores provincial governments to impose tighter restrictions on citizens and speaks in support of travel restrictions between provinces, his own government continues to allow flights from COVID-19 hot spots.

This week it was reported that the Public Health Agency of Canada had dropped additional screening for passengers arriving from Brazil, where the P1 variant is running rampant.

“Given that the P.1 variant is no longer limited to Brazil and is found in a range of countries, including Canada, and that it is not clear that screening for incoming travellers who have been in Brazil was adding operational value,” Eric Morrissette, chief of media relations at the Public Health Agency of

Canada, said in an email to Postmedia.

The largest outbreak of the P1 variant outside of Brazil is in British Columbia. Never mind extra screening though, it's here so just deal with it seems to be the view of the Trudeau government.

Neither are the feds doing additional screening or blocking flights from India, despite that country dealing with skyrocketing COVID-19 case counts and a double mutant variant that is ripping through the country. Despite that, 22 flights have arrived in Toronto and Vancouver with Covid-19-positive passengers between April 1 and 11.

There have been five Covid-19-positive flights from Dubai to Toronto aboard Emirates Airlines, which is looking at bringing back its 500-passenger Airbus A380 to regular service.

We stay locked down,

Trudeau calls for more restrictions and more measures, but flights keep coming.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Trudeau has been wary of any tough restrictions on flights, other than banning planes from Britain for a period around Christmas and a pause in flights to sun destinations. Meanwhile, he points to the success of the Atlantic region, which hasn't seen international flights arriving since March 2020.

We are told not to travel between provinces, not to travel within our own provinces, not to visit family, but international flights are just fine? None of this makes any sense.

Meanwhile, on the vaccine front, Trudeau waffles.

I'm not talking about the Moderna doses being delayed yet again, even cut in half for the shipments in May. I'm talking about his unwillingness to put vaccines where they're needed. Trudeau, like premiers across the country, have committed to vaccine distribution on a per capita basis.

Just as I've called for Premier Doug Ford to stop this practice in Ontario, I'm calling on Trudeau to do the same nationally. There is no urgency to vaccinating people in Atlantic Canada or

Northern Ontario at this point.

Just as regions of Ontario that have no COVID-19 cases should give up their supply to the areas of the province that are dealing with serious outbreaks, provinces and territories should do the same. Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. — in that order — are most in need and should have doses directed to them.

Despite calls for this from the Canadian Medical Association, Trudeau says he can't do this without talking to premiers.

My advice to him is the same as my advice to Ford: Take a few days of bad headlines and do the right thing if you're serious about dealing with this pandemic.

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No sweat, banning RV's and campers from BC Ferries will offset it....

Amid surging cases and 'double mutant' variant, flights from India touch down in Canada

India’s Ministry of Health and Welfare reports there are currently 1.9 million active cases of COVID-19 in the country

DEL6118813_54026599-scaled-e161885487572

Mon Apr 19, 2021 - The National Post
by Emma Sandri

Flights from Delhi continue to land in Canada despite India’s daily tally of COVID-19 infections surging to a record over the weekend — and amid the emergence of a new “double mutant” variant in the country. 

A federal government website that lists flights where someone has been confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19shows that from April 4 to April 16, there were 120 flights with a COVID-positive passenger or passengers.

Amid surging cases and 'double mutant' variant, flights from India touch down in Canada

Of those flights, 27 were from Delhi.

India banned international flights last month, but Canada is one of 13 nations exempted through an “air bridge” arrangement between the two governments. 

When asked whether Canada was considering banning flights from India on Wednesday, federal minister of health Patty Hajdu said that the challenge with country-by-country approaches is that “COVID spreads in ways that we can see and ways that we can’t.”

On Friday, the U.K. government is to add India to its travel ban list. The ban is necessary to “protect the progress we’ve made in this country in tackling this awful disease,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons on Monday.

Similar action was also taken by Hong Kong, which banned flights from India for two weeks — starting April 20 —  after dozens of passengers from New Delhi tested positive for the virus.  

Currently, incoming passengers are required to present a recent negative COVID-19 test before boarding any flight to Canada and, upon their arrival, must submit to a second test for the virus.

Those arriving in Canada by air must also quarantine themselves for a minimum of 14 days, even if they’ve been vaccinated or tested negative for COVID-19. This quarantine period also includes a mandatory three night stay in a government-authorized hotel, at their own cost. 

According to Hadju, there’s a “very low rate of importation” of the virus at the border. 

While the federal website does not detail how many people on each flight were infected, it does list  rows where passengers could have been exposed to the virus. In some cases, however, the rows in question were unknown. Exposures listed are gathered through reports received from international, provincial and territorial health authorities, as well as public websites. However, the site cautions that the list is “not exhaustive.” 

India’s Ministry of Health and Welfare reports that there are currently 1.9 million active cases of COVID-19 in the country, 74,941 of which are from Delhi. As of Monday morning, 178,769 people have died. 

According to Bloomberg,the record-breaking number of cases in India is thought to be fuelled by a new variant — called B.1.617.

The country’s health and welfare ministry first acknowledged the presence of the so-called “double mutant” at the end of March, but has yet to confirm whether or not it’s responsible for rising infections. “Higher transmissibility of this variant is not established as yet,” it said. 

On Friday, Aparna Mukherjee, a scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research — which works under India’s health ministry — told Bloomberg that B.1.617 is a variant of interest, but it “has not been stamped as a ‘variant of concern,’ so as to say that it is more lethal or more infectious.” 

Researchers are also trying to determine if B.1.617 is more deadly than other concerning variants, which have emerged in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil. Evidence suggests that the Brazilian and South African variants are more transmissible — spreading easily and quickly. 

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From the Australian State of Victoria:

Here in Victoria the current face mask regulations & recommendations are as follows:

At midnight last night the long-awaited ‘travel bubble’ between Australia and New Zealand became a reality.

As both countries have no local transmission of COVID-19 there is no requirement for 14-day quarantine going or coming back.

Australians must apply for permission to depart Australia to any overseas destination, except NZ which is now exempt under this bubble program.

Yesterday was the 51st day that Victoria recorded no locally-acquired cases. Yesterday NSW reported 3 new cases, in a quarantine hotel with families in adjacent rooms. The virus travels in the air between rooms. Victoria had to halt inbound international flights while it re-engineered all quarantine hotels to ensure negative room pressure and no ‘crosstalk’ between rooms or corridors. International flights have resumed into MEL recently. So far no infections in the quarantine hotels.

Today 7 aircraft are at SYD about to fly to NZ. Encouraging news.

Travel bubble opens as Australians take off on quarantine-free holidays and New Zealanders find a way home - ABC News

When do I need to wear a face mask?

From 11:59pm on Friday 9 April 2021, Victoria has further relaxed its COVIDSafe settings. These changes are designed to balance getting Victorians back to doing the things they love while keeping in place measures to protect all that Victorians have worked so hard for.

You must always carry a face mask with you at all times when you leave the home, unless you have a lawful reason not to.

Face masks must be worn:

  • on public transport, in commercial passenger vehicles such as taxis and ride share vehicles, and in tour vehicles

  • by visitors to a hospital

  • by visitors at a care facility (while indoors)

  • on flights to and from Victoria

  • at airports

  • if you are a diagnosed person, or a close contact of someone diagnosed with COVID-19, when leaving your home or accommodation for a permitted reason, such as to seek medical care or to get tested

  • while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test when leaving your home or accommodation for a permitted reason, such as to seek medical care (except as part of a surveillance or other asymptomatic testing program)

  • while experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.

It is recommended that you wear a face mask when at a private gathering or when you cannot maintain 1.5 metres distance from other people (such as at outdoor markets, outdoor concerts, street markets, at a busy bus stop or train station platform).

There are a number of lawful reasons to not wear a face mask.

Source: Face masks - when to wear a face mask | Coronavirus Victoria

The “travel bubble” between Australia and New Zealand is in its 2nd day of operation and going smoothly. No quarantine is required in either direction.

Three carriers now operate flights . . . to various city pairs: Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Qantas.

Each carrier plans to operate 120 to 150 flights per week employing around 6,500 people. Load factors are 90%.

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B.C. BANS MOST TRAVEL

Visitors not welcome, says premier

  • Calgary Herald
  • 20 Apr 2021
  •  
img?regionKey=n7hfJ57jxMeYRlSPpS8jsg%3d%3dPHOTO GOVERNMENT OF BC B.C. Premier John Horgan details the new COVID-19 restrictions on Monday.

B.C. Premier John Horgan on Monday announced sweeping new travel restrictions that prohibit people from travelling outside their health authority in that province to stop the spread of COVID-19.

There will also be signs at B.C.'S border with Alberta warning people not to come into B.C. unless it's for essential travel.

“When it comes to travel, (provincial health officer) Dr. (Bonnie) Henry has been saying for months and months and months, stay in your territory, stay in your community,” Horgan said. “This is not the time to load up the Winnebago and travel around British Columbia.”

B.C. will bring in an order on Friday that means people could face a fine for non-essential travel outside their local health authority with checkpoints across the province.

That province's Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth will issue orders under the Emergency Program Act which will allow police to do random roadside check stops, Horgan said, not unlike the check stops that target impaired drivers over the holiday season.

“They will be random and there will be a fine if you were travelling outside of your area without legitimate reasons.” Horgan said. He said the province will consult with Black and Indigenous communities and people of colour to ensure the new restrictions do not disproportionately target racialized people.

“This is about travel,” Horgan said. “There will be no additional authority given to police.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Saturday walked back some of the travel and movement restrictions announced in that province the day before following near-universal condemnation.

Horgan said the province is also working with tourism operators to ensure they're not taking bookings from visitors outside their region. B.C. Ferries will also have reduced sailings and cancel bookings for recreational vehicles. The ferry service will contact passengers who have booked reservations and ask them if their travel is essential

Also Monday, Dr. Henry announced that the “circuit breaker” restrictions on indoor dining at pubs and restaurants and indoor group fitness will be extended until the end of the May long weekend.

B.C. also lowered the eligible age for the Oxford-astrazeneca vaccine to 40 and targeted 15 COVID-19 hot spot communities with vaccinations in order to combat surging cases of the virus which have hospitals across B.C. nearing capacity.

Due to high COVID case counts, the province will vaccinate all adults in Invermere and Enderby. A surge in COVID -19 cases means hospitals are nearing capacity, with hospitals in Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Northern Health and Interior Health sitting at more than 95-per-cent occupancy as of April 16.

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 Is it time to ground domestic flights?

Air-Canada-1.png?quality=90&strip=all&w=

Wed Apr 21, 2021 - The National Post
by John Ivison

Brazil has just advised women to “delay pregnancy” until the aggressive P1 variant of COVID has passed. Estimates collected by the BBC suggested between 518 and 1,032 infants under a year old have died since last February, as the highly transmissible variant of concern has raged across the South American country.

The variant has spread to Canada, with 2,201 cases recorded so far. The vast majority – 1,810 have been found in British Columbia, where provincial health officer Bonnie Henry revealed on Monday that a toddler died of COVID, that province’s youngest victim so far (it was not revealed whether the infant, who had a pre-existing condition, had contracted the variant.)

As case numbers have risen in B.C. in recent days, Premier John Horgan has imposed new travel restrictions, limiting people from leaving their local area for non-essential reasons.

Yet while all this is going on, domestic air travel continues unabated. Six flights from Vancouver are due to land in Toronto on Wednesday. Between April 1 and 14, 90 domestic flights carried passengers subsequently found to have COVID, with 50 of those flights originating in Vancouver. None of those passengers was obliged to take a COVID test before or after flying, or was forced to quarantine on arrival (Ontario recommends but does not enforce quarantine.)

With all we know about the intimate link between the virus and travel this seems inexplicable. It’s clear that the less people travel, nationally and internationally, the less the virus spreads. Anyone who doubts that should look at the flat COVID case graphs for the Atlantic provinces, which have a two-week quarantine period for new arrivals by land and no flights landing from outside the Atlantic bubble.

International flights are still landing too, with 30 arrivals carrying reported COVID cases in the two-week period between April 1-14 – half of which came from Delhi, where a new “double mutation” variant, B1.617, has been discovered. The U.K. and Hong Kong have added India to a travel ban list in recent days but the federal government has defended its decision to allow flights from the sub-continent to keep landing by insisting that the importation rate of the virus is low.

That decision is true to form. Ottawa recently dropped enhanced screening measures for flights from Brazil, even though B.C.’s Bonnie Henry confirmed that P1 was traced back to a traveller. The rationale was that since the variant is here already, “it was not clear that screening for incoming travellers who had been in Brazil was adding operational value.”

All the more reason to try to contain such an aggressive variant in the province where it has taken such a toll on its population, not to mention its hockey team.

We now have a virus that is every parent’s worst nightmare but there are no efforts being made to corral it West of the Rockies (there are 169 reported cases in Alberta, 211 in Ontario and eight in Quebec).

The Public Health Agency admitted that is likely “the tip of the iceberg” in its daily briefing, without elaborating. But it made clear its concern. “Early evidence suggests that the P1 variant may reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, making it even more important to control the spread.”

Despite this recognition, Patty Hajdu, the health minister, is not recommending restrictions on inter-provincial travel. Then again, this is the health minister that said last year that closing borders was a greater risk to public health than leaving them open.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week urged people to avoid travelling to the province but has not called on the federal government to intervene. Justin Trudeau has said he’s supportive of provinces closing their borders but has not proposed the kind of restrictions on domestic travel that were imposed on international flights.

The pathogen is thriving on the hospitality offered by such typical Canadian public policy – with premiers urging: “After you, sir,” and the prime minister responding, “No, not at all, after you.”

It’s as if we’ve never faced a viral epidemic before. Except, of course, we have and the conclusion of the SARS Commission chair Justice Archie Campbell in 2006 was that governments can’t wait for scientific certainty before taking reasonable steps to reduce risk.

Domestic flights should be grounded temporarily until case numbers start declining, and the P1 variant is under control.

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Is it time to pass on the "Banana Bread" loophole?

In Ottawa the two sides of the border are so linked that just about anyone has an excuse to cross.

The most curious one that seems to work is that you bake some banana bread and tell what ever checkpoint person questions you that you have a sick friend in the other province and you are taking them some banana bread to cheer them up for their Mental Health.

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A longggggg time ago, "we" collectively agreed that if we put all covid-free persons in a confined area and let no one in or out, those confined persons would remain Covid-free.

However....that virgin territory would be ripe to infection upon one breach; one infected individual has a completely virgin crop.

Alternatively, a relatively open community has a "blend" of individuals...infected and transmissive; immune; infected and non-transmissive. The introduction of that same "communicator" has less impact since the person may come into limited if any contact with a "receptive" audience.

Florida has seen very few restrictions; personal protection depends more on the committment of the individual to remain virus-free. Everywhere you go, you encounter people who have absolutely no concern.

And life ( and death) goes on and millions get vaccinated and hundreds of thousands of doses go unused due to a lack of interest.

Florida does not inhibit your ability to protect yourself; stay home; get essentials delivered; etc etc. Personal freedom. But....should you choose to accept some risk...wear a mask and don't attend large gatherings. Or get vaccinated.

Ontario says....you MUST stay at home; you have no alternatives....we don't have enough doses of vaccine...sorry.

And so it goes.

 

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Quote

NEW DELHI -- The world's fastest pace of spreading infections and the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases are pushing India further into a deepening and deadly health care crisis.

While India is massive -- it's the world's second-most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people -- its size also presents extraordinary challenges to fighting COVID-19.

Some 2.7 million vaccine doses are given daily, but that's still less than 10% of its people who've gotten their first shot. Overall, India has confirmed 15.9 million cases of infection, the second highest after the United States, and 184,657 deaths.

India records global high 314,835 cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours

 

Quote

 

Crew members concerned as Air Canada sells out flights from COVID hotspots

From Vancouver Sun – link to source story

Booking info shows no economy seats available on Air Canada’s Delhi to Toronto flights until late May

Bryan Passifiume  •  April 21, 2021

Air Canada passenger planes take off at Pearson International Airport on Sunday Jan. 24, 2021. Air Canada passenger planes take off at Pearson International Airport on Sunday Jan. 24, 2021. PHOTO BY JACK BOLAND /Toronto Sun

Anybody hoping to book a seat from Delhi to Toronto on Canada’s largest airline over the next four weeks is pretty much out of luck.

And as Air Canada continues to operate near-or-at capacity flights from world COVID-19 hotspots, concern is growing among those who crew them.

CREW MEMBERS CONCERNED AS AIR CANADA SELLS OUT FLIGHTS FROM COVID HOTSPOTS

Air Canada flight crew members reported to the Toronto Sun that there’s widespread anxiety concerning flights from Delhi — which since February, has grown into Canada’s single-highest source of international passengers infected with the potentially deadly respiratory disease.

At least half of the four-daily non-stop flights from India’s capital this month carried COVID-positive passengers, according to information posted online by Health Canada.

Between April 1-19, both Air Canada and Air India operated 47 infected flights from Delhi to Canadian airports.

India’s second wave — fuelled by the virulent “‘double-mutant” B.1.617 variant — has unleashed a nightmare in the South Asian country with 300,000 new cases reported on Wednesday.

The 166 infected international flights that landed in Canada so far this month include 27 from the United States, 14 from Paris, 13 from Doha, Qatar, and eight from Frankfurt — destinations served by Air Canada.

One crew member told the Sun Delhi-assigned crews are fearful as they watch co-workers book off to quarantine or recover from COVID — a sentiment shared by their union, which has fielded “multiple” complaints from members regarding those flights.https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q7M5YHMeHWY?embed_config={%27relatedChannels%27:%20[],%27autonav%27:true}&autoplay=0&playsinline=1&enablejsapi=1

“While it has been on our radar as a hotspot for a long time, the union is increasingly deeply concerned about this route,” said CUPE spokesperson Hugh Pouliot.

Booking information shows no available tickets on Toronto-bound AC43 from Delhi for the rest of this month, except for limited business class seats on April 23, 25 and 27.

No economy seats on that flight are available until May 24.

Inquires to Air Canada by the Sun went unreturned by deadline.

Canadian officials have dismissed growing calls to ban flights from India.

On Wednesday, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam gave the first hint the government is considering changing course, describing India as an “emerging situation” under close observation.

“We will be doing that risk assessment again, and using the data that we have now collected at the border to inform our next steps,” she said.

Officials like Tam, Health Minister Patty Hajdu and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau describe Canada’s borders among the world’s strongest, key to preventing spread from international travel.

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56 minutes ago, Airband said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to impose an entry ban on people who have been in India during the past 14 days or to force them into hotel quarantine for an incubation period?  The policy announced today only makes it less convenient to travel to Canada from India, and it doesn't impose any additional restrictions on travellers arriving from the hotspot.

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1 hour ago, FA@AC said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to impose an entry ban on people who have been in India during the past 14 days or to force them into hotel quarantine for an incubation period?  The policy announced today only makes it less convenient to travel to Canada from India, and it doesn't impose any additional restrictions on travellers arriving from the hotspot.

as I don't believe in the validity of the prescreening , the bans do make sense, as they did when we banned flights from the UK etc.  Why would flights from India be exempt?????

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image.png.177708c49a52e21aebcd464a511ebe51.png

It's a real mystery how this country is managed

Global flights landing in B.C. as Albertans told to keep out

  • Calgary Herald
  • 23 Apr 2021
  • GEORGE BROOKMAN George H. Brookman is chairman and corporate ambassador for West Canadian Digital Imaging Inc.
img?regionKey=n1E%2bunQifcI0ivFSoko76Q%3d%3d  

In the 1998 movie Shakespeare in Love, there is a scene when the financial backer says to the producer (and I am paraphrasing): “The actors don't know their lines, the sets aren't finished, the tickets haven't sold and we are supposed to open tomorrow. How can that be?” At which point the producer looks him straight in the eye and responds, “I don't know, it's a mystery.”

These past few days, we are all feeling more and more like much of our world is living in a state of “It's a Mystery” and, somehow, all of us are expected to believe it all and follow the rules with as little pushback as possible.

British Columbia is not a country, it is a part of Canada. For that reason, when its premier says that “Albertans are not welcome” and closes the provincial borders, it is something we should not take lightly. Is this valid policy or a bit of macho grandstanding? As international flights continue to land in Vancouver, does the premier of B.C. feel that visitors from around the world are safer than travellers from Alberta? For sure, “it's a mystery.”

The prime minister and his finance minister have told us, in essence, “We are going to borrow more money than our country has borrowed since we were at war. We are going to support some businesses and ignore others while we create tax-funded daycares, invest in more green technology and build up more and more debt, all for your own good.” We will soon have a debt of $1.4 trillion, an incomprehensible amount. Where will the money all come from? The answer is, “It's a mystery.”

Our ... prime minister ... wants to save the world while allowing Canada to struggle.

In Alberta, we cling to a belief the energy industry will save the economy, but that Alberta can also be the new frontier of renewable energy. We all want to believe that. We are told that with almost 1½ million Albertans having been vaccinated, we are making great progress. But then the next day we hear that we are losing ground. One day the news media reports that we have good capacity in our hospitals and the next day we hear that they are overwhelmed. There is little doubt that our politicians and our health professionals are working round the clock to try to make the right decisions, and huge new clinics in Calgary and Edmonton should be a giant step forward.

Let's make sure that we put as few restrictions on people as possible and just open the doors whenever there are vaccines available. The number of arms that have been jabbed just has to go up if we are going to beat this. But mixed messaging does nothing to improve our confidence. Why don't Alberta and Canada have enough vaccines to get this done? It is a real mystery.

In Alberta, we have to stop confusing each other. Open the clinics and the pharmacies whenever there are vaccines available and stop trying to restrict access to certain age groups or demographics. Once the health-care workers, teachers and EMS people are vaccinated, then open the doors and let's just get it done as fast as we possibly can.

Of course, our major issue has to lie in Ottawa, with a prime minister who wants to save the world while allowing Canada to struggle. Why he feels that he has to grandstand in front of the United States while there is little or no co-ordination between provinces is another mystery. By one calculation, we have ordered enough vaccine to give everyone in Canada at least five shots each, but where are they? No one can hide from the fact that one of the richest but most debt-laden countries in the world is far behind in our vaccine program. Where is the leadership?

When a province closes its borders to other Canadians, shouldn't the prime minister have something to say about that? The priorities of Ottawa seem to be a mystery to all of us.

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19 hours ago, rudder said:

Will AC launch for DEL tonight?

ACA42 YVR-DEL

April 23, operated;

April 24 cancelled;

April 25, cancelled;

April 26+ "scheduled"

ACA43 DEL-YVR
April 22 operated;

April 23, cancelled;

April 24, cancelled;

April 25 + "scheduled"

ACA44 YVR-DEL

April 22 operated ;

April 23, cancelled;

April 24, cancelled;

April 27+ "scheduled"

ACA45 DEL-YVR

April 22 operated;

April 23, cancelled;

April 24, cancelled;

April 27+ - "scheduled"

source FR24

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1 hour ago, dagger said:

I see AC operating a 7xxx numbered flight into DEL at the present time, so a freight op. First time in a while I have seen a 7xxx to DEL as most cargo, I assume, was being handled on the passenger flights.

The 7XXX number was out of Delhi after the arrival of last pax flight into DEL from YYZ. 

7073.jpg

Edited by AIP
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Might be the last cargo flight of vaccine too!

A horrific third wave in India is delaying an expected shipment of 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that had been set to arrive in Canada this month.

India’s Serum Institute signed a contract with Canada earlier this year to provide two million doses of their version of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada. The first 500,000 doses arrived in March, with a further shipment of a million doses expected in April, and the remainder of the order expected in mid-May.

Public Services and Procurement Canada’s director general Joëlle Paquette said those shipments are delayed, but the company still says it expects to eventually fulfill its order.

“The company is committed to supply their 1.5 million doses, and we’re still tracking that for the end of June. Obviously the situation in India and the exportation ban may affect that particular delivery,” she said

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