Wastewater from HK, China Flights to be Tested at YVR

Wastewater from China and HK flights will be tested for Covid

Just to reiterate, starting on January 5, travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau, regardless of vaccination status, must present a negative Covid-19 test taken 48 hours before departure for flights to Canada. The measure will be in place for 30 days and then reassessed.

And what is very interesting is that Vancouver International Airport or YVR will take part in a pilot project where wastewater from certain aircraft from the above-mentioned places will be tested to track the surge of the virus which has spread like wildfire in China. 

Wastewater from YVR is already being monitored at the Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant, just north of the airport.

Travellers must present negative Covid-19 tests

But Trevor Boudreau, director of external relations for Vancouver Airport Authority said a few months ago YVR was approached by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the BC Centre for Disease Control about sampling wastewater not just from the terminal but also from the depot where plane waste is deposited.

Boudreau said following the latest travel measures, health officials approached YVR again for a pilot project "to directly sample waste from certain aircraft arriving from specific destinations".

The government is also expanding its wastewater testing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

PHAC will be starting the pilot in the last two weeks of January and will run it for the short term focused on flights from China and Hong Kong, as there are no direct flights from Macau.

Dr Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist with the University Health Network in Toronto, said wastewater testing can be useful in tracking emerging mutations of Covid-19.

Testing can help track emerging Covid variants

"It's really important to have a good understanding of which variants are circulating, which ones are in Canada, and that just gives us some very valuable information that is often actionable," he said.

He also noted it was important to be transparent with the data.

"It's extremely important to share this data with the world and when we have open platforms for sharing genomic sequencing, we're in a much better place and we just have a much more well-informed global population," he said, adding such monitoring is a necessary next step as Covid-19 ebbs and flows.

It's also a non-evasive way to collect data if people are not being tested on arrival.

Canada Also Wants Negative Covid Test

How much longer will flight crew wear hazmat suits onboard?

Happy New Year! And if you arrive in Canada from China, Hong Kong and Macau from January 5 onwards, you will have to produce a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of your flight.

Canada is now following other countries such as the United States, Japan, Italy, India and Malaysia in trying to slow down the possible surge in Covid-19 cases coming into their respective countries.

Negative Covid test needed to enter Canada

Any traveller from China, Hong Kong and Macau who is two years and older and regardless of their vaccination status must produce a negative molecular or antigen test that was supervised by a telehealth service accredited laboratory or testing provider.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is concerned there could be other variants swirling around on the Chinese mainland that the rest of the world is unaware of and hope that testing will try to keep out as many other variants as possible; that said most people outside of China have either been infected with Covid-19 and recovered, or are sufficiently vaccinated to protect themselves.

While Canada's measure is only for 30 days and then will be reassessed to continue or not, epidemiologists like University of Hong Kong's Ben Cowling do not find this a good way in stopping the virus from entering other countries.

Testing inbound travellers, with the exception of those at a few tourist destinations, "does not have much impact on the domestic spread of infections because travellers only [make up] a small fraction of a population at any given time," Cowling said in an email, adding there was no epidemiological rationale for travel restrictions at this stage of the pandemic.

HK travelers must produce negative test too

Meanwhile, before the end of 2022, several notable people passed away, including Brazilian football legend Pele, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, former Pope Benedict Ratzinger, journalist Barbara Walters, and Canadian singer and songwriter Ian Tyson.

Everyone is hoping 2023 will be much better and despite inflation, climate change and Covid-19 still lingering. No one wants to waste another moment after almost three years were gone.

Wishing everyone good health, happiness for the coming year!