O’Toole says stopping flights from India ‘not enough,’ suggests halting all International travel

Opposition leaders want to see stricter international travel measures in order to stop the further importation of COVID-19 variants.

Speaking on Monday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says too many people are bringing COVID-19 variants – such as the B.1.617 variant ravaging India – into Canada through land and air borders.

O’Toole says Canada should consider temporarily halting all international flights until it can get infection rates under control.

“The government needs to secure the border by stopping flights from all hotspot countries and, in fact, perhaps all international travel temporarily until we can rectify and secure our border,” said O’Toole.

Canada has banned flights from India and Pakistan, but allows flights from other countries, so long as passengers follow health restrictions.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the Trudeau government is failing at the border.

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“I am open to whatever is in the best interest of Canadians and what will work to keep us safe,” Singh said.

“If that includes some travel restrictions or increased travel restrictions, I am prepared to look at the evidence and then make a decision that supports what experts are calling for.”

Federal data shows says 100 flights landed in the country between April 11th and April 22nd carrying at least one passenger who tested positive for COVID-19 after landing.

O’Toole says he supports Canada helping the people of India, while also halting international flights to keep out more transmissible strains of the virus.

“At the beginning of the crisis when we didn’t have sufficient PPE and other critical materials we shouldn’t have been sending them around when we didn’t have sufficient supply at home but we have been able to build up some of that,” O’Toole said.

“Let’s help our friends in India.”

Several countries have promised to quickly send urgently-needed supplies to help India as the country reels from shortages of oxygen and treatment amid a devastating wave of the virus.

India recorded 349,691 fresh cases and 2,767 deaths in the last 24 hours – the highest since the start of the pandemic.

Since last spring non-essential travel to Canada has been barred and since then, the federal government has put in place mandatory testing for all travellers and mandatory quarantine for anyone flying into Canada.

Federal data shows travel has accounted for less than two percent of COVID-19 cases in our country.

Johnson & Johnson arriving in Canada, feds say

Ottawa says the country will get about 300,000 of the single-dose jabs from J&J in the coming days. That’s in addition to more than one million shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and about 650,000 doses from Moderna.

But Canada is not currently expecting any more deliveries of the coveted Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Those doses have been in high demand ever since the eligible age for the shot was lowered to 40-plus in several provinces.

Last week, federal public procurement minister Anita Anand said she was trying to secure some extra supplies from the United States after President Joe Biden indicated he might be willing to share some shots from his country’s massive stockpile.

With files from The Canadian Press