Canada to cover cost of mandatory hotel quarantine for new refugees

Newly arriving refugees will have the cost of their mandatory hotel quarantines covered by the federal government.

The federal government is also covering the cost of mandatory COVID-19 testing on arrival.

As of Monday, most incoming travellers to Canada are required to stay for up to three nights in government-approved hotels while they await the results of COVID-19 tests.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The new rules are meant to guard against further spread of COVID-19 and discourage travel.

1:40 Coronavirus: Health minister details new COVID-19 measures affecting land and air travellers entering Canada

But the fact travellers must pay out of pocket had refugee groups in particular concerned about how they’d find the money.

Despite widespread travel restrictions, refugees do continue to arrive in Canada — about 9,000 came in 2020.