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Canadians with COVID-19 symptoms to be denied boarding on all domestic flights, trains

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses Canadians on the COVID-19 pandemic from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Friday, March 27, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

People showing any symptoms of COVID-19 will no longer be able to board a flight or passenger train within Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Saturday morning during his daily COVID-19 update from outside his home in Ottawa.

“Obviously, if anyone is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, they should not go out, they should stay home they should not travel,” he says. “We are giving further tools to airlines and rail companies to ensure that anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms does not travel.”

The new travel measure will go into effect Monday, at 9:00 a.m. although, Trudeau has not outlined the exact terms of enforcement as of Saturday.

Trudeau adds despite the restriction; there are no plans to close provincial borders at this time.

This decision was made to flatten the curve of COVID-19 in Canada.

On Friday, the number of novel coronavirus cases in Canada surged to 4,757, including 55 deaths.

Although in B.C. Trudeau addressed the success the province has had as data indicates, the province’s COVID-19 experience will likely resemble South Korea’s rather than brutally hit Italy.

“We see promising news out of B.C. that over the past couple of weeks, the measures taken in place by so many Canadians. The choices that Canadians have made have had an impact on the overall numbers, but we need to keep it up,” he says.

Once again, Canadians are urged to stay indoors in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, pointing out the social isolation measures have been showing promise, particularly in B.C.

Canada’s chief public health officer Theresa Tam says the latest data shows about seven per cent of COVID-19 cases in the country have required hospitalization.

About three per cent of cases have required critical care, and about one per cent have been fatal.

She notes that about 30 per cent of people hospitalized are aged 40 and under.

Tam says health officials will keep a close eye on trends of the severity of the disease for signs that more vulnerable people are being affected or that the health system is being overwhelmed.