South Africa travellers temporarily exempt from Canadian third country testing requirement
Posted Dec 11, 2021 3:51 pm.
Last Updated Dec 11, 2021 4:52 pm.
As of Tuesday until Jan. 7, all travellers leaving from or transiting through South Africa to Canada will not need to provide a negative COVID-19 test from a third country.
This restriction initially came into effect along with several other changes to travel-related requirements earlier this month when the COVID-19 Omicron variant emerged.
The federal government has implemented a travel ban on 10 African nations and any foreign nationals who have travelled through those countries in the last two weeks are temporarily barred from entering Canada. Countries impacted include: Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Read More:
-
Canada’s latest COVID-19 travel rules explained
-
Feds clarify new travel rules, testing at airports still ‘ramping up’
-
Feds warn holiday travel abroad comes with ‘risk and uncertainty’
In an update on the Canadian government website, anyone travelling from South Africa will only need a pre-departure negative COVID-19 molecular test from an accredited lab in South Africa no more than 48 hours before scheduled departure. A positive test can also be used as long as it was obtained 14 days and no more than 180 days before departure.
Flights must also depart within 18 hours from the country of transit.
An Ontario infectious disease specialist has said there is evidence testing all travellers before and after they arrive in Canada will identify most cases of COVID-19 coming into the country.
