Toronto sees spike in COVID-infected flights from India
Two flights per day in some cases landed at YYZ carrying COVID infected passengers since Feb. 4
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Thirteen flights from India landed at Toronto airport carrying passengers with COVID-19.
Data published by Health Canada shows the Toronto bound flights, two per day in some cases, departed Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi carried at least one passenger who tested positive for the potentially fatal respiratory virus between Feb. 4 and Feb. 14.
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The flights were operated by both Air Canada and Air India.
While Canada requested airlines halt flights to the Caribbean and Mexico as of Jan. 31, airlines are still permitted to operate flights to other destinations.
Both Frankfurt and Jamaica had the second-most number of COVID infected landings at YYZ over the past two weeks, tied with seven.
London Heathrow came third with five, followed by Dubai with four, Istanbul, Pakistan, Dominican Republic and Mexico with three, and the United Arab Emirates and Cairo with two.
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Other countries with single flights include Qatar, The Netherlands, Portugal and Ethiopia.
There were 13 flights from the US carrying infected passengers, with three each landing in Toronto from Charlotte, Newark and Chicago.
As of Feb. 14, travellers over the age of 5 entering Canada via air are required to provide proof of a negative molecular COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure.
That requirement extends to those entering via land border crossings on Feb. 21.
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Since Feb. 4, 95 flights landed at Canadian airports carrying passengers who tested positive for COVID-19 over the past two weeks — the longest amount of time Health Canada maintains its publicly-available infected flight data.
Seventy-three of those flights landed in Toronto, followed by eight in Calgary, seven in Montreal, six in Vancouver and one in Ottawa.
Health Canada doesn’t list the number of infected passengers per flight, just ranges of two row numbers where passengers who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 may have sat.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
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