Coronavirus: B.C. to hand over border screening duties to feds Saturday

B.C. officials will be handing COVID-19 screening duties over to their federal counterparts starting on Saturday.

Provincial public servants were deployed to points of international entry in April, to boost coronavirus screening and ensure that returning travellers had the information and resources to quarantine for 14 days.

The province says between April 10 and June 15, more than 72,000 returning travellers were required to fill out a self-isolation plan. Officials followed up with just over a third of those travellers on their progress.

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A further 142 people who didn’t have a self-isolation plan were housed during their quarantine period at public expense.

The province says the federal government’s own screening measures have now caught up to the province’s.

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Provincial screening measures will stay in place, however, for temporary foreign workers arriving in B.C. to work in the farm sector.

Staff with Service BC will also continue compliance and wellness checks to ensure people are maintaining their 14-day quarantine.