Nunavut ends almost all out-of-territory isolation hub stays

Travellers to Nunavut who are unvaccinated for COVID-19 or partially vaccinated will no longer have to isolate in one of the government's isolation hotels in Southern Canada.

Nunavut Health Minister John Main said in a news release that those travellers can now isolate in their home community for 10 days.

Main says the isolation hotels will still be available to unvaccinated and partially-vaccinated Nunavut residents who test positive for COVID-19 while on medical travel in Southern Canada.

Nunavut's isolation hotels have been in place since March 2020 in Yellowknife, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

Last summer, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the severity of the territory's isolation requirements were no longer "justified or reasonable."

Three days later, the Nunavut government announced that travellers who could prove they were fully vaccinated could isolate at home. The following month, vaccinated parents whose children were unvaccinated were also allowed to skip stays at the hubs. 

That left only unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated travellers using the hubs.

A report by The Canadian Press last May showed how the spread of COVID-19 at one isolation hub led to the territory's first cases. 

"The out-of-territory isolation hubs were implemented as a necessary measure against the high risks of introduction and spread of COVID-19 to our communities, at a time when effective and safe vaccines were not available for the majority of the population," said Main in the news release. 

"The steady and significant decline in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Nunavummiut going through [the Government of Nunavut's] out-of-territory isolation hubs, combined with safe and effective vaccines and in-territory public health measures, allows us to revise our out-of-territory isolation requirements." 

Starting Feb. 28, unvaccinated and partially-vaccinated people returning to the territory will need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken at least 72 hours before departure.

Dr. Michael Patterson, the territory's chief public health officer, said as of Tuesday, 77 per cent of Nunavut residents aged five and up have received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.