Air Passengers to Pay $5000 if they Refuse to Quarantine.

Air passengers entering Canada who refuse to quarantine in a designated hotel will soon be subject to a $5,000 fine.

The federal government of Canada has announced that, starting Friday, international air passengers who decline to take their required COVID-19 tests or who refuse to check into a quarantine hotel could be hit with a $5,000 fine for each offence — a $2,000 increase from the current fine.

See also

See also Coronavirus; Canada, Now one of the Most Vaccinated Countries.

CBC News reports that on Feb. 22, the government said air passengers entering Canada must take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and spend up to three days of their 14-day quarantine at a government-approved hotel to wait for their test results. Passengers must foot the bill for their stay, which can cost up to $2,000.

Travellers must also take a COVID-19 test before entering Canada. 

The fine increase followsa government advisory panel report issued last week which said Ottawa should scrap the hotel quarantine requirement and instead let people arrange their own quarantine.

The panel said the hotel quarantine is flawed for a number of reasons, including that some travellers are choosing instead to pay the current fine of up to $3,000.

Between April 14 and May 24, more than 1,000 travellers were fined for refusing to go to a quarantine hotel and more than 400 were fined for not taking their required COVID-19 test before flying to Canada or upon arrival at the airport, according to the government.