Calls to federal government for tougher travel restrictions

As India deals with record breaking daily COVID-19 cases, Canada is now dealing with a new variant.
 
The B.1.617 variant first detected in India has now made its way into the country, with Ontario reporting at least 36 cases.   
 
Last week the federal government announced it would be suspending all incoming passenger flights from India and Pakistan.
 
This came as dozens of flights from the two countries carried passengers who later tested positive for COVID-19.
 
The travel ban is expected to last at least 30 days.
 
Prabmeet Sarkaria, associate minister of small business and red tape reduction said the ban is not going far enough, as many can still take connecting flights into Ontario.
 
“About 20 percent of air passenger travel was coming from both countries that were banned, but more importantly 50 percent of all positive travel test cases were from those destinations. When we look at hot spot countries across the world we really needed action on this earlier.”
 
According to Sarkaria, the government needs to limit all non-essential travel into Canada.
 
“We are now also calling for the federal government to stop all non-essential travel to Canada before new variants overwhelm our intensive care units completely. We are stretched in our limits because of these new variants and that's why we need tougher restrictions.”