Canada Reintroducing Enhanced Screening Measures For Arrivals From Brazil

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2021) Canada is reintroducing enhanced screening measures at the border for individuals arriving in Brazil amid a surging third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.

"Effective March 30, 2021, all travellers who have been in Brazil within 14 days of seeking entry into Canada are now subject to secondary screening and increased scrutiny of quarantine plans," Health Canada said in a statement via Twitter.

The new measures are being introduced in response to the growing number of cases of the P.1 variant, which was first identified in Brazil, the statement said.

The spread of the new variant has been most pronounced in the province of British Columbia, where health authorities have logged nearly 1,000 cases since the beginning of April.

To date, Canadian health officials have recorded nearly 36,000 variant of concern cases across the country, with nearly 96 percent of these cases being attributed to the variant first identified in the United Kingdom, according to Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam. Overall, the number of infections has exceeded 1 million with over 23,000 fatalities across Canada.