EDMONTON — Alberta's health minister says the province is not looking to follow Manitoba and place new COVID-19 restrictions on interprovincial travellers.
Tyler Shandro says it’s important to put in health restrictions as needed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus but travel within Canada remains important.
Starting Friday, Manitoba is expanding its restrictions to require all domestic travellers to self-isolate for 14 days after entering the province.
Since last June, only people arriving from areas east of Terrace Bay in northern Ontario had been subject to the requirement.
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says it’s being done out of an abundance of caution in part to combat new variants of COVID that can spread exponentially faster than the original strain and could overwhelm health systems far faster.
The federal government is also eyeing new travel restrictions after COVID variants were detected in Canada, including Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2021.
The Canadian Press
