Type of Intervention: New Tool / Service / Body
Sectors Involved: Health, Tourism, Transportation
Intervention Categories: International travel measures
Level of Jurisdiction: Federal
Lead People/Agency: Patty Hadju (Federal Minister of Health), Christine Elliot (Ontario’s Minister of Health), other ministerial colleagues across Canada’s provinces and territories. Implementers include airports, their staff, Canadian border agents.
Overview: The federal government of Canada implemented increased screening and detection measures at Canadian airports, including Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in addition to Vancouver and Montreal airports. Federal and provincial governments coordinated joint efforts to enhance measures, which include screening questions at border kiosks on travel to Wuhan, China in the past 14 days, in which a positive answer would trigger more in-depth screening, and the development of fact sheets on symptoms and next steps to take in English, French, and Chinese languages. This measure intends to further support current monitoring, detection, and containment measures to protect Canadians.
Full details here: https://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2020/01/federal-government-increasing-measures-to-monitor-wuhan-novel-coronavirus-risks-at-canadian-airports.html
Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Perception of an increased threat
Source of Evidence or Justification: National – government
Evidence/Justification: The Ontario government is supporting enhanced screening measures at airports based on the federal government’s decision to implement these. The federal government, namely Canada’s Minister of Health, enacted these measures in major Canadian cities (Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto) to enhance monitoring, detection, and containment of any potential cases of COVID-19. The announcement by the Ontario government cites collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada, other jurisdictions, Public Health Ontario, local health units, hospitals, and care providers in their COVID-19 monitoring process.