Canada extended its ban on incoming passenger flights from India and Pakistan by another 30 days, Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra announced Friday.
Alghabra announced the extension during the weekly Public Health Agency of Canada press conference one day before the original ban was set to expire.
Accordingly, the earlier 30-day flight ban from India and Pakistan which set to expire Saturday will now be extended to June 21.
“Direct commercial and private passenger flights from India and Pakistan will continue to be denied permission to arrive in Canada,” Alghabra revealed during the press conference.
“This is not the right time to loosen any measures right now,” he said.
This move comes amid growing concerns over a highly transmissible variant of the novel COVID-19 first discovered in India.
As the B.1.617 variant has been identified in Canada and other countries, the federal government cited concern over the spread of the variant as a reason when the initial travel ban was announced on April 22.
“Our initial decision last month was based on data observed through public health,” the minister noted.
He stated that the data had shown a disproportional amount of infection for arrivals coming from both India and Pakistan, affirming that the government had to do whatever it takes to protect their health and safety.
However, he pointed out that there has been “a significant reduction in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 arriving from international flights since this restriction was put in place.”
“There is still increased pressure on our health care system because of the pandemic so we must continue to be vigilant,” the minister stressed.
The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below 300,000 for the fifth consecutive day with 2,57,299 new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
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