| | |  Travel & Outdoors | April 2009 
Screening Measures Stepped Up at Airports
 Megan Fitzpatrick - Canwest News Service
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| | Graphic detailing the World Health Organisation six-phase pandemic alert system. Airlines and tour operators suspended flights to Mexico as new cases of a deadly strain of swine flu were confirmed across the globe and officials warned of more fatalities. (AFP graphic) | |
Canada stepped up its screening measures at airports Tuesday to check passengers returning from Mexico for swine flu symptoms amid news that the virus has now infected 13 Canadians in four different provinces.
Canadians who choose to maintain their travel plans to Mexico, despite a travel warning issued Monday by the Public Health Agency of Canada to delay trips if possible, will face questions about their health from customs officers upon their return.
Border agents at airports have been directed to ask passengers if they have any of the swine flu symptoms - fever, fatigue, lack of appetite, coughing, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea. They will also be asked if they have been in contact with anyone who has symptoms.
If anyone answers "yes" they will be assessed further and possibly referred to a quarantine officer, who may then advise travellers to go home and self-isolate or to go to a hospital.
"These measures will help to prevent further spread and protect the health of Canadians and we thank you for your patience and co-operation with this process," Dr. David Butler-Jones, chief public health officer, said yesterday at a news conference.
Airline passengers will also receive handouts with information about swine flu and will hear public-service announcements on the plane.
But Canadians who were planning on travelling to Mexico soon are out of luck.
All travel from Canada to Mexico has been suspended by Air Transat, Nolitours, Transat Holidays, Sunquest Vacations and Sunwing Vacations - until the end of May or early June.
Late yesterday, Air Canada said that it "currently plans to maintain flights to Mexico City." But it also said it will suspend all operations to Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta until June 1.
WestJet and WestJet Vacations announced yesterday afternoon it will stop flying and stop vacation planning for Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, effective Monday.
And Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruises announced yesterday they were temporarily suspending port calls in Mexico.
The new Canadian cases, which experts are all considering as mild, came as no surprise to health officials.
"Today's new cases were anticipated by the government and by public health officials and they do not change our course of action," Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said at a news conference.
The health minister said the federal government is following a six-point plan to deal with the swine flu outbreak, and is "on top of what is happening."
World health authorities are warning the swine flu outbreak could develop into a pandemic.
Its spread around the globe and its person-to-person transmission prompted the World Health Organization on Monday to heighten its global pandemic alert system from level three to four.
Researchers are struggling to understand why the virus, which has a genetic makeup that has never been seen before, has been deadly only in Mexico and why it seems to severely affect relatively young and healthy people. |
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