Canada to require land-arriving-visitors to take COVID-19 test

Canada plans to impose a new coronavirus restriction starting next Monday. People reaching its borders by land will have to produce a negative coronavirus test before being allowed into Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement on Tuesday. He said Canadians can’t be barred from reentering, but they could be fined up to $3,000 if they don’t show negative test results.

The government can then “demand and ensure a rapid and complete followup to make sure that they are getting tested, that they are being properly quarantined, that they are not putting at risk the safety of other Canadians by returning home without a clear negative test,” Trudeau said.

Arrivals by air already have to show a negative test. The Canada-US land border is closed to all but essential traffic because of the pandemic.

Nonessential travelers have to quarantine for 14 days.

An American teenager and her Cayman Islands boyfriend were sentenced to four months in prison for ignoring the Cayman Islands' strict COVID-19 quarantine requirement. Skylar Mack, 18, a pre-med student at Mercer University in Georgia, and Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, a professional jet ski racer from the Cayman Islands, were arrested on November 29 after breaking her quarantine to attend her boyfriend’s jet ski competition. Mack and her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, were originally sentenced to four months in prison, but the punishment was reduced to two months at an appeals court.