Rule mandating negative covid test for arrivals from China now in effect

Starting today, January 5, all International airline arrivals from mainland China, Macau, and Hongkong will be required to provide a negative covid test to enter Canada.

Regardless of nationality or vaccination status, any person aged two or more coming into Canada from the aforementioned places will require a negative covid-19 test to do so.

“As of 12:01 a.m. EST on January 5, all air travellers who are two years of age and older, arriving on flights originating from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macao, will need to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test result, taken no more than two days before their departure, to the airline prior to boarding,” a December 31 news release read.

Travellers will need to provide a “negative molecular (such as a PCR test), or a negative antigen test” prior to leaving for Canada. The covid-19 test should not be taken more than two days before the departure, according to the news release.

The mandatory testing was announced at the end of December as other countries like the US, the UK,  and Japan also began to take similar precautionary measures for arrivals from China.

The Chinese Foreign Minister criticized the requirements last week, citing that countries were using Covid-19 measures for politics, and that China would retaliate.