An expert says Canada’s requirement of a negative COVID-19 test of travellers from China will not help in preventing new variants or the spread of the virus.
Kerry Bowman, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, calls the requirement a political move.
The federal government said Saturday that people coming in from China, Hong Kong and Macao will have to test negative for COVID-19 before leaving for Canada.
It says the requirement will apply to all air travellers age two and older from the three countries and will begin on Jan. 5.
Bowman says the point-of-entry screening is not effective because people can test positive at a much later date.
He says a more effective measure would be testing wastewater from airplanes and airports to check for the viral load and mutations.
