VANCOUVER -- B.C. health officials have added 11 more flights to their list of possible COVID-19 exposures.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control added the flights on Tuesday.
The most recent additions to the list either took off from or landed at a B.C. airport between April 5 and 18. Four of the flights were international, including three from India, where a surge in coronavirus variants has prompted travel restrictions from some countries.
Indeed, eight of 13 international flights with COVID-19 cases on board that have landed in Vancouver since April 11 have been from India.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Canada would "look carefully" at suspending flights from India, as the U.K. has done.
Details of the latest flights added to the B.C. list follow.
- April 5: Air Canada flight 305 from Montreal to Vancouver (rows 26 to 32)
- April 5: Flair flight 8822 from Vancouver to Calgary (rows 14 to 20)
- April 11: Swoop flight 183 from Toronto to Abbotsford (rows not reported)
- April 12: WestJet flight 3116 from Victoria to Calgary (rows 11 to 17)
- April 13: Air Canada flight 201 from Calgary to Vancouver (rows one to four)
- April 14: Air Canada flight 45 from Delhi to Vancouver (rows 18 to 21 and 41 to 46)
- April 14: Air Canada flight 103 from Toronto to Vancouver (rows one to five)
- April 14: Sunwing flight 2852 from Mexico City to Vancouver (rows five to 11)
- April 15: Air Canada flight 115 from Toronto to Vancouver (rows 14 to 20)
- April 17: Air Canada flight 45 from Delhi to Vancouver (rows 24 to 30)
- April 18: Air Canada flight 45 from Delhi to Vancouver (rows 26 to 30)
Anyone who was on any of the flights listed should self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, seeking testing and self-isolating if any develop, according to the BCCDC.
Passengers who were seated in the rows specified are considered to be at greater risk because of their proximity to a confirmed case of the coronavirus.
International travellers bound for Canada are required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before being allowed to board their flights. They are also required to take another test upon arrival and spend three nights in a government-approved quarantine hotel awaiting the results. Those three nights count toward a mandatory 14-day quarantine period.
Domestic travellers are not required to take a test before boarding, and are not required to self-isolate upon arrival in most provinces. That said, health officials across the country have been warning against non-essential travel within Canada for months.
Earlier this week, B.C. announced restrictions on non-essential travel within the province and plans to put signs at the Alberta border. So far, the province has not announced stricter rules specific to domestic air travel.
B.C. health officials do not directly contact people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 on airplanes. Instead, public notifications are published on the BCCDC website.
