HALIFAX -- Before Charles Morales flies to the Philippines, he got a COVID test.
It was a voluntary move, but one he believes should be available at the Halifax airport.
"Yes, there should be," said Charles Morales."It’s for everyone’s safety."
Travellers are screened once they arrive at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, but never tested there. That's a decision that has to come from public health.
Instead, anyone coming in from outside Atlantic Canada has to hand in a form to provincial inspectors.
"We’re in conversations with the province right now about what testing here at the airport could look like and we welcome having tested implemented here," airport spokesperson Leah Batstone said.
For at least 72 hours, Canada has halted inbound flights from the U.K. in an effort to stop the spread of a new strain of COVID-19.
"We’ll watch carefully how this situation in the UK evolves (and) work with our federal government," said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health. "They’re the ones in charge for protecting our national borders."
The province says it plans to talk about the role rapid testing plays at airport in the New Year.
At Calgary’s airport, travellers coming from outside Canada are given the option to have a rapid COVID test.
A negative result shortens their quarantine time.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Lisa Barrett points out its success rate is still being studied.
"Those data should be coming out soon," Barrett said. "So we don’t know the right answer if airports are the best place to do this, but certainly I wouldn’t rule it out as we go forward as being an important thing to think about."
Meanwhile, security is doing temperature checks as some travellers take their tests into their own hands.
