Covid-19 Travel Resources

COVID-19 News and Resources

Even if your country is starting to re-open, we need to remember this is still a global health crisis, with millions of people affected.  Globally, as of 2:00 pm CEST, 28 May 2021, there have been 168,509,636 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,505,534 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 26 May 2021, a total of 1,545,967,545 vaccine doses have been administered.  Despite the vaccines, health experts warn that COVID protection measures—masks, distancing, and avoiding nonessential travel—will still be needed for most of 2021, if not longer, until herd immunity around the world is achieved through mass immunization.

COVID-19 Travel Regulations Map

The International Air Transporation Alliance (IATA) and the UNWTO (UN World Tourism Organization) have introduced a free interactive map that provides real-time updates for COVID-19 travel restrictions by country.

 The tool provides information on:

• COVID-19 Indicators including infection rates, positivity rates, and vaccination roll out by destination/country.
• Air Travel Regulations, including test and quarantine requirements, provided by IATA’s Timatic solution.
• Destination Measures, including general health and safety requirements such as use of masks, transit through a country, curfew, or regulations related to restaurants and attractions, provided by national tourism organizations.

 Click here to check it out!

Where to Get Tested (Sample Listing only) 

Testing requirements are changing constantly, so please check with your airline or public health organizations prior to travel.

Canada:  Two well-known names in the specimen collection and diagnostic testing industry are LifeLabs /Shoppers Drug Mart and Dynacare (Montreal only).

USA: There are a variety of places offering coronavirus testing, including urgent care centers, travel clinics, fire stations, pop-up sites, most hospitals, pharmacies and some airports. If you’re going abroad, check the U.S. Embassy website of the country you’re visiting for applicable testing information.

Will Proof of Vaccination be Required for Travel? 

Countries around the world are evaluating how to manage proof of vaccination to ease travel. To date, there is no global standard, so gird yourself for abundant confusion and concern about privacy issues.

England has launched a NHS COVID-19 App which includes contact tracing, information on local area restrictions and venue check-in. There is a completely separate NHS app to request repeat prescriptions, message their doctor and organise online consultations. 

European officials have rolled out an EU-wide Digital Green Pass which will use QR code technology in June.  As of June 13, 12 countries have adopted it with 16 on deck. The certificates are intended to facilitate free movement during the pandemic by providing proof that a person has either been vaccinated, received a negative test result or recovered from the virus. This will be in the form of a QR code, either carried on a piece of paper or in a digital application, such as France’s TousAntiCovid app on someone’s phone. These contain the travelers name, date of birth, passport number, whether you have been vaccinated or not, the type of vaccine you had, and if you have already had Covid-19.

Denmark, Iceland and Israel are among the countries that have developed their own system. Sweden plans to roll out its plans in June.

Word is that Japan will develop its system this summer, based on the EU Digital Passport.

At the moment, it looks like Canada will require proof but all the provinces seem to be going their own way. We are hoping the federal government will step up and make a decision quickly.