B1617, a double mutated virus found only in India at the end of March, is making its way into Canada like crazy! As the number of confirmed cases soars, this afternoon, Eastern Ontario, Canada officially announced that it will continue to close all elementary and secondary schools for all distance learning after spring break in April.
In late March, in just two weeks, 42 passengers on flights arriving in Toronto from New Delhi have been diagnosed with the new crown, and all have been infected with the latest double mutation virus.
On March 24, India reported the discovery of a new double mutation of a new variant of the virus, known as “double mutation,” which has the characteristics of two identified variants. The Indian Ministry of Health clearly stated in a statement that “this mutation brings about immune escape and increases infectiousness”. Currently, the new crown epidemic in India is spreading at an alarming rate.
Data released by the Indian Ministry of Health on April 9 show that 131,968 new cases were confirmed in a single day, more than 130,000 cases! The highest in the world. The Indian health department confirmed that confirmed cases are growing at an alarming rate due to the emergence of this double-mutant virus. The outbreak is so serious that India has banned international flights last month, yet Canadian and Indian officials have adopted a special arrangement called “Air Bridge” (Air Bridge), in which Air Canada and Air India fly each other, two times a day. Statistics show that since March 3, as many as 1/3 of all confirmed passengers entering Canada have flown from the same point of departure – New Delhi, India!
Previously, the highly threatening British, South African and Brazilian variants of the virus had already led to record numbers of confirmed cases in Canadian provinces, and now with the addition of the Indian double variant, there is no telling how dangerous the outbreak will be! Experts believe that unless more Canadians are vaccinated, the risk of contracting the virus is higher in everyday situations, and that the two-metre safe social distance that used to be thought of no longer works unless more Canadians are vaccinated.
The situation with imported cases in Vancouver is not encouraging either. 106 travellers have refused to be quarantined at government-authorized hotels after arriving at Vancouver International Airport since the mandatory inbound quarantine policy was implemented on Feb. 22, resulting in the Public Health Agency of Canada issuing them with fines of up to $3,000 per person per day. The BC CDC reports that there have been 23 confirmed passengers on flights departing or arriving at Vancouver International Airport since the beginning of April.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has further confirmed that an average of 50 confirmed passengers have arrived at Canadian airports each day for the past 6 weeks. Will these passengers spread the virus on the plane, and will these passengers, who are running to the four corners of the world, bring the virus to new places after the plane lands? There are some questions that it is simply too much to think about.
The Vancouver Sun reports that Public Health Agency of Canada spokesman Tammy Jarboe said that since Feb. 22, the health department has issued citations to 106 passengers who arrived in British Columbia but did not book a government-authorized quarantine hotel and subsequently refused to go. Jabo said those people face fines of up to $3,000, while the cost of quarantining for three nights at a government-authorized hotel is about $2,500. The report noted that it is not certain how many tickets have been paid or how many will go to court.
According to statistics, between Feb. 22 and April 6, nearly 176,000 travelers were tested for the new coronavirus after arriving in Canada by land and air. Of those, 2,282 tested positive, a positive rate of 1.3 percent, according to Jarboe. That equates to one infected person for every flight carrying 100 passengers, she said. From March 2020 to April 6 this year, 2.7 million people arrived in the country by air and another 9 million by car, but mandatory testing only began earlier this year and it was not known how many passengers had been diagnosed before then, Jarboe said. Those arriving via land gates will be required to provide test results for new crowns completed within the past 72 hours, but will not be required to spend three days in quarantine at a government-authorized hotel.
Canada’s mandatory hotel quarantine policy for air travelers has forced a large number of snowbirders to choose to return to Canada by land, CBC reported. U.S. car rental businesses in U.S.-Canada border cities have grown significantly to help these Canadians escape the high cost of hotel quarantine. “Snowbirds,” a nickname given to Canadians who regularly vacation or settle in the southern United States, are described as “snowbirds” because most of them are retired, have snow-white hair, and fly back and forth from winter to spring.
According to the Canadian government’s epidemic prevention regulations, civilian passengers entering Canada from foreign countries must be kept in quarantine at a hotel designated by the health agency for at least three days while awaiting the results of a new crown test. Passengers entering Canada from land borders, however, are exempt from this requirement and are only required to provide proof of New Guinea virus testing and be quarantined in their own homes for 14 days. One result of this double standard of protection is that snowbirds returning to Canada in the spring have chosen to fly to the U.S.-Canada border city of Buffalo and then take an airport cab across the Niagara Falls Bridge border customs into Canada. Many can enter for as little as $100 Canadian, and in the absence of further nucleic acid testing, God only knows how many infected people will enter.
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