Shomporko Desk:-As a lot of countries reopen their borders to worldwide travel following a very long time of limitations, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says there keeps on being a noteworthy drop in travellers arriving in Canada, in comparison with the identical time last year.
New data released Tuesday appears there was a 95 per cent decrease in passengers arriving at Canadian airports between June 29 to July 5, when compared with a similar period the prior year.
From July 1-7, 2019, there were 836,091 travellers arriving in Canada via air. After a year, from June 29 to July 5, there were just 44,672 arrivals at airports, according to the CBSA.
On July 5 alone, the CBSA found travellers on U.S. flights were down 96 per cent and international air travellers were down 93 per cent compared to the previous year.
The Canada-U.S. border was closed to all non-essential travel on March 21, with limited exceptions, in an effort to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus between the two countries. The federal government has extended the current ban until at least July 31.
As for land border crossings from June 29 to July 5, the CBSA said there was a 91 per cent drop from the year before with 1,637,461 land travellers arriving that week in 2019 to just 154,875 a year later.
The CBSA noted that there was no difference in the number of truck drivers entering Canada from June 29 to July 5. No restrictions have been placed on commercial shipments and the agency said it has not seen any indication of issues with supply chains into Canada for essential goods, including food and medical supplies.
“CBSA is working with other federal partners to share information with commercial stakeholders to provide assurances that commercial traffic continues,” the agency said in a press release.
Under the Quarantine Act, anyone arriving in Canada by air or land must self-isolate for 14 days to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Travellers are also required to complete a contact tracing form at their point of entry so PHAC can monitor and enforce the isolation requirement.
The CBSA said the data for the week of June 29 to July 5 is consistent with their earlier numbers, which have shown a steady decline in air and land travel to Canada in comparison to the same periods in 2019.
Photo credit: GETTY IMAGES
News source: CTVNews
