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Apr 21, 2021 7:34 PM -

Ontario's government is "pleading" with Ottawa to ban travel from India and other hot-spot countries; Dr. Tam says federal government is looking into flights arriving from India

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Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam speaks during a technical briefing on the COVID pandemic in Canada, Friday, January 15, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canada's top public health doctor says the federal government is looking into flights arriving from India amid reports that a massive surge of COVID-19 cases is ravaging that country.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says Ottawa has generally opted for measures that are not country-specific, such as a pre-boarding test for COVID-19, tests on arrival and government-mandated quarantine.

But she says India could be a special case due to a "variant of interest" there that may be fuelling a massive outbreak of COVID-19.

India recorded nearly 300,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday alone, with 2,000 more deaths linked to the virus.

According to the federal government, there have been 35 flights from India with at least one case of COVID-19 that have arrived in Canada in the last two weeks.

Ontario's government, for one, is "pleading" with Ottawa to ban travel from India and other hot-spot countries.

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