Public Health Agency of Canada failed to keep tabs on most quarantine hotel stays, says AG

The Public Health Agency of Canada struggled to keep track of whether travellers ordered to stay in quarantine hotels actually did so, according to a new report from the auditor general.

Auditor General Karen Hogan tabled four reports this afternoon in the House of Commons looking at COVID-19 measures. One of the reports examines enforcement of quarantine hotel stays and testing requirements from July 1, 2020 to the end of June 2021.

At the start of the year — in addition to the already required 14-day quarantine period — the government introduced new rules for incoming travellers meant to limit the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

Travellers crossing by both land and air were required to show a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before their scheduled flights to Canada.

Air and land travellers were also required to undergo both on-arrival and post-arrival COVID-19 tests. In addition, incoming air travellers were required to pre-book and pre-pay for a three-day stay at a government-authorized hotel, where they were to remain in quarantine while waiting for their on-arrival test results.

Hogan's audit found that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) didn't have an automated system to track whether travellers ordered to quarantine at authorized hotels actually did so.

It discovered PHAC only had records to verify hotel stays for about a quarter of air travellers for the February to June 2021 period.

"Because the agency did not have records of stay for 75 per cent of travellers who flew into Canada, it did not know whether those who were required to quarantine at government authorized hotels had complied," said Hogan.

"In addition, the agency did not reliably track whether air travellers who had been notified of positive COVID-19 tests had stayed at a government-authorized hotel as required."

WATCH | AG says PHAC failed to keep tabs on most quarantine hotel stays

Although they're not required to do so, some hotels told PHAC by email that 326 people who had booked quarantine stays never checked in. About 74 per cent of these travellers were then referred to law enforcement as a priority for follow-up action — but no tickets had been issued at the time the audit was tabled.

PHAC agreed with the audit's recommendation that it improve its tracking and said in response that it initiated an assessment of its information technology systems and data requirements for border measures in November.

The government dropped the hotel quarantine requirement this summer but has reinstated some measures as part of its attempt to contain the emerging omicron variant.

Foreign travellers from 10 nations — all of them in Africa — are barred from entering Canada, while Canadian citizens and permanent residents returning from affected countries must quarantine. Air travellers from all countries except the United States are also required to take COVID-19 tests when arriving in Canada.