Premier Doug Ford with his Health Minister by his side toured Pearson Airport today after the completion of a COVID-19 testing pilot project.
The project was voluntary. for travellers landing at YYZ. According to the province, more than 6,800 COVID-19 tests were completed this month, and almost 2.5 per cent of travellers who participated ended up having COVID-19.
This comes even as the federal government has mandated pre-flight testing for anyone entering Canada.
Ontario is calling on the feds to implement mandatory testing for travellers arriving by air or land.
"Ontario's border testing pilot program is helping us to trace and isolate COVID-19 cases early among travellers arriving in Ontario," says Health Minister Christine Elliott. "In the meantime, we are in continuous contact with our federal partners to advocate for further measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, protect our borders, and most importantly, the health and safety of Ontarians."
Ford says roughly 30,000 international travellers are coming through Pearson Airport every week.
If the 2.5 per cent positivity rate is applied, that would mean 750 cases of COVID-19 coming through the airport every week.