Canadian traveller forced to stay in quarantine facility after negative COVID-19 test

A Canadian traveller returning from South Africa says he was forced to continue staying in a federal quarantine facility even after receiving a negative test.

Lennard Skead, of Brandon, Man., says he received a negative COVID-19 test on Saturday but wasn’t allowed to leave a Toronto quarantine hotel until the next day, when he was notified by a quarantine officer.

By then, Skead says, he’d already cancelled a flight home and wasn’t able to book another until Monday.

Skead, who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, said in an interview today he felt like he had been arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.

Canadians travelling from 10 African countries are required to obtain a COVID-19 test in the country they’re leaving, obtain a second test while in transit and get a third after arrival in Canada.

They have to stay at a designated facility until they receive the results of the test in Canada.

On Saturday, the federal government exempted people travelling through Germany from South Africa from the in-transit testing requirement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2021.