July on track to exceed Canada's pre-India ban numbers on infected international flights
Canada say 287 flights land so far this month, just 15 less than all of April when Canada still accepted flights from India
Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:Jul 27, 2021 • 12 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
Arrivals board at Toronto Pearson International Airport
Arrivals board at Toronto Pearson International Airport PHOTO BY VERONICA HENRI /Toronto Sun
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With less than a week left in the month, July’s on track to see international arrivals carrying COVID-19 passengers exceed those before Canada banned passenger flights from India.
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Numbers provided by Health Canada and collated by the Toronto Sun show, as of July 26, 272 flights arriving in this country carried passengers infected with COVID-19.
That’s compared to 287 throughout all of April, the month Transport Canada issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) forbidding direct passenger flights from India in response to high numbers of infected passengers arriving on those flights.
Earlier this year, the Sun reported that surge coincided with India’s devastating variant-fuelled second wave of COVID-19, with infected passengers reported on nearly all of the four-daily arrivals from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, peaking at 66 in April before the ban was enacted on the 22nd.
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Passengers from India must now arrive via indirect flights, and must obtain a negative PCR COVID-19 test from their last port of departure before arriving in Canada.
Last week, the Sun reported 161 infected flights had landed this month as of July 20.
Seventy-one of this month’s flights originated in the United States, 34 more since last week.
Flights from Mexico, July’s largest overseas source, now sits at 24 — 17 via Mexico City.
Flights from Amsterdam increased from 13 to 21 over the past seven days, followed by 18 each from Paris and Istanbul, 15 from Morocco, 12 from Frankfurt and 11 from London.
Health Canada doesn’t make public how many passengers on each flight tested positive, instead providing row ranges of where infected passengers sat.
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Canada’s rising numbers of infected arrivals demonstrates the problematic nature of building border policy around pre-departure testing, said Ambarish Chandra, associate professor of economic analysis and policy at the University of Toronto.
“We’re asking people to get tested 72-hours before flying,” he said.
“Assuming they test negative, and even if the test is valid, anytime within that 72-hour window they could pick it up, and therefore test positive.”
He described much of Ottawa’s pandemic border policy as redundant — particularly with vaccinated travellers — and more interested in being reactive over proactive.
“The measures we’ve introduced since January have been extremely blunt,” he said.
“I don’t really think they’re doing all that much to stop spread or reduce cases, I think they’re just designed to give us the appearance of that.”
Top 10 sources of international flights with COVID-19-infected passengers this month, as of July 26
1. United States: 71
2. Mexico: 24
3. Amsterdam: 21
4. Istanbul & Paris: 18
5. Doha: 17
6. Casablanca: 15
7. Frankfurt: 12
8. London: 11
9. Cuba: 9
10. United Arab Emirates: 8
Canada say 287 flights land so far this month, just 15 less than all of April when Canada still accepted flights from India
torontosun.com