• Effective April 25, 2022, at 00:01:00 EDT, the following easing of border measures came into effect:
  • Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children aged 5-11 who are accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent, step-parent, guardian or tutor are no longer required to complete a pre-entry COVID-19 test for entry to Canada. Pre-entry tests are still required for partially vaccinated or unvaccinated travellers 12 and older who are currently eligible to travel to Canada. Children under 5 years of age are not required to provide a COVID-19 test result.
  • Additionally, all fully vaccinated travellers are no longer required to provide a quarantine plan upon entry. This requirement will also be removed for children aged 5-11 who are accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent, step-parent, guardian, or tutor and travellers with a medical contraindication to a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Furthermore, fully vaccinated travellers arriving to Canada on or after April 25, 2022, are no longer federally required to do the following for 14 days after arriving:
    • mask while in public spaces;
    • monitor and report if they develop signs or symptoms;
    • quarantine if another traveller in the same travel group exhibits signs or symptoms or tests positive; and
    • maintain a list of close contacts and locations visited.

The CBSA welcomed one million travellers in a week for the first time since the start of the pandemic

• The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) welcomed into Canada more than one million travellers last week (April 11 to 17), the first time travel volumes have been this high since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

COVID-19: CBSA resumes border services at select airports

• The CBSA will resume services at 47 small airports on May 2 and May 15th, 2022.

Four independent organizations will provide COVID-19 transitional support to self-employed cultural workers in the live performing arts sector

• The Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund will provide more than $50 million in direct funding to independent, self-employed workers in the live performing arts sector who are experiencing financial hardship, up to a maximum of $2,500 per individual.

• Although provincial and territorial (P/T) reporting frequency and intervals vary, recent 7-day averages (ranging 7-days ending from April 16-21, 2022 across P/Ts) shows continued widespread activity across Canada. Nationally, laboratory test positivity during the latest 7-day period (April 13-19, 2022) remains elevated at 18%. Similarly, wastewater signals remain elevated in many areas of the country, however there is considerable variability from testing sites across the country.
• The recent rise of hospitalisation rates in several jurisdictions appears to be still manageable, with critical care currently trending at low levels.
• Currently, the BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant accounts for over 70% of recent viruses sequenced in Canada and is steadily increasing.
• Evidence shows that boosters can help increase antibody levels that wane over time after the second dose. Although vaccine effectiveness against infection decreases over time, evidence shows that two doses of mRNA vaccines generally maintain good effectiveness against severe outcomes across variants, and a booster further increases vaccine effectiveness to over 90% against severe outcomes.

• The Government of Canada is investing $6.7M in a new pediatric COVID-19 research platform: Pediatric Outcome Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks (POPCORN).
• POPCORN aims to answer important questions about how to protect children against the health effects of COVID-19.

• The Government of Canada announced $40 million in additional funding in support of the GFF’s “Reclaim the Gains” campaign, bringing Canada’s total contribution to $190 million. These funds will help lower-income countries to improve the resilience of their health systems, reverse the impact of COVID-19, and drive long-term improvements for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health.