TORONTO —
The federal government has issued a travel advisory for South Korea, urging Canadians to avoid visiting two cities where COVID-19 has posed an especially serious problem.
The advisory, which was issued Friday night, is the latest in a series of recommendations the government has issued in a bid to protect citizens from unnecessary risks vis-à-vis coronavirus exposure.
Here is a look at some of the countries that have been hit hardest by the new virus, and what the government says about travelling to each of them.
CHINA
The epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, China has seen nearly 80,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,870 deaths as of Sunday afternoon.
Canada has issued a travel advisory urging citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to China, and completely avoid all travel to Hubei province, where the outbreak originated.
The government also notes that anyone who falls sick while travelling to China may have difficulty accessing health care in a “timely and appropriate” fashion.
Anyone returning to Canada from Hubei specifically is asked to contact their local public health authority within 24 hours of their return, and limit their contact with others for 14 days.
Prior to the outbreak, Canada had advised travellers to China to be cautious “due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” This wording was introduced in 2019, following the arrests of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor and awarding of the death penalty to Robert Schellenberg — all Canadian citizens — and has disappeared in recent weeks.
SOUTH KOREA
Coronavirus activity in South Korea has significantly escalated over the past two weeks, with the country now reporting more than 3,500 cases and 17 deaths.
Many of these cases are clustered around the cities of Cheongdo and Daegu in the country’s southeast. Canada has issued a travel advisory for these two cities, recommending that non-essential travel be avoided and anyone already in the area consider leaving.
For the rest of the country, the government suggests any Canadian visitors exercise a high level of caution and practise special precautions, such as avoiding crowds and frequently washing hands. Cases of COVID-19 have been reported in all provinces of South Korea.
ITALY
The most hard-hit country in Europe based on reported figures, Italy has seen more than 1,500 coronavirus infections and 34 deaths.
The rapid increase, which is still unfolding this weekend, has led to fears of severe damage to the country’s tourism industry, and in turn its overall economy.
The U.S. issued a level three travel advisory – the second-highest in its arsenal – for Italy on Friday night.
Canada has not yet followed suit. As of Sunday afternoon, its guidance remained that Canadians could travel to most of Italy as normal, and need only exercise caution in the country’s north.
The U.S. has been more aggressive than Canada in issuing coronavirus-related travel advisories, also urging its citizens to avoid all travel to China and non-essential travel to all of South Korea.
IRAN
Officially, Iran has reported 978 cases of COVID-19, 54 of them fatal.
There is, however, much speculation that the real number of those infected may be significantly higher. Authorities said this weekend that they are preparing to test “tens of thousands” of Iranians for the virus.
Iran has the highest number of coronavirus-related deaths outside of China, and the government has said that the number of cases of infection may increase rapidly as testing is rolled out to more patients.
Canada already had significant travel advisories in place for Iran prior to the spread of COVID-19. The government suggests avoiding all travel to Sistar-Baluchistan province and areas along Iran’s borders with Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as avoiding non-essential travel to the rest of the country.
These warnings have not been upgraded because of the coronavirus threat, although the government does warn that the risk of sickness could increase later this month during Iranian New Year celebrations.
JAPAN
The effects of COVID-19 on Japan have been relatively mild as compared to other developed Asian nations, with the country reporting 241 cases and five deaths as of Sunday.
Those totals do not include the more than 700 cases connected to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was subject to a widely criticized quarantine for two weeks. The last crew members under quarantine left the ship Sunday.
Japan is nonetheless taking the possibility of an expanded outbreak seriously, closing schools and asking companies to allow employees to work from home. A state of emergency has been declared on the northern island of Hokkaido, and there are concerns about whether the Tokyo Olympics will be able to go ahead in August.
In a travel bulletin last updated Saturday, the Canadian government says it does not recommend travellers to Japan take any specific action to ward off the virus, aside from basic good-hygiene practices.
The U.S. is again taking a different stance, suggesting its citizens exercise increased caution.
AND THE REST
Only two other places have been singled out for coronavirus-related attention in Canadian travel bulletins: Singapore and Hong Kong.
Although there has been evidence of person-to-person spread in both Singapore and Hong Kong, the government says there is no need for travellers to either jurisdiction to practise any special precautions to avoid catching COVID-19.
Canadian travellers to Hong Kong are advised to exercise caution, but that is due to the pro-democracy protests that focused the world’s attention on the semi-autonomous region for most of 2019.
As of Sunday, there had been 102 confirmed cases of the virus in Singapore and 96 in Hong Kong.
The Canadian government has not issued any specific travel advice for several other countries that have reported similar numbers of infections, including Germany, France, Spain and the U.S.
