Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world on Nov. 7 – CBC.ca

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More than a year and a half after COVID-19 concerns prompted the United States to close its borders to international travellers from countries including Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom and much of Europe, restrictions are shifting to focus on vaccine status.

Beginning Monday, bans on travel from specific countries are over. The U.S. will allow in international travellers, but they must be vaccinated with a few exceptions.

The U.S. is also reopening itsland borders with Canada and Mexico for people who are vaccinated.

Air travellers will needto show proof of vaccination on arrival in the U.S. andwillstill need toshow a pre-departure negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of boarding their flight.

WATCH |U.S. border reopening to all vaccinated Canadians on Monday:

Non-essential travellers crossing at a land border will be required to show proof of vaccination or attest to their vaccination status upon request by a border agent. Unlike air travellers, theywill face no requirementto show a negative COVID-19 test.

But when returning to Canada, recreational travellers must provide proof of anegative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hoursof their return flight or planned arrival at the land border.

Canada will only accept a molecular test such as a PCR test which can cost hundreds of dollars.

Children under 18 won't need to be vaccinated, but they do need to take a pre-entry COVID-19 test before entering the U.S. Kids who are twoand younger are exempt from testing requirements.

Canada is still requiring all travellers five years of age andolder who are entering the country to provide proof of a negative test, regardless of their point of entry.

As for which vaccines will let someone into the U.S., it's any COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, which include the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines used in the U.S., as well as most used overseas, such as AstraZeneca and China's Sinovac. Not currently allowed is Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, which is authorized in 70 countries. The WHO is reviewing Sputnik but hasn't approved it.

As of Sunday, more than249.7million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than five million.

In Europe,officials in Greece are now restricting access to cafs, restaurants, state services and banks to those who are either vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a negative test.

In theAsia-Pacific region, the Australian city of Sydney will further ease physical-distancing curbs on Monday, a month after emerging from a coronavirus lockdown that lasted nearly 100 days, as close to 90 per centof people have receivedboth doses of vaccine, officials said.

Although limited to people who are fully inoculated, the relaxation in the state of New South Wales, home to Sydney, lifts limits on house guests or outdoor gatherings, among other measures.

In Asia, the Chinese mainland on Saturday reported 50 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Sunday.The commission also reported 24 new imported cases forthe day.

In the Americas, about four million U.S. federal workers are to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 22 under President Joe Biden's executive order aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

Beyond that rule, another such mandate set to take effect in January, aimed at about84 million private-sector workers, is being challenged in court.

On Saturday, a federal appeals court in Louisiana temporarily halted the vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers.

The mandate states that those workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested weekly, starting Jan. 4.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that he is "quite confident" the vaccine mandate will be upheld once it "gets fully adjudicated."

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Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Nov. 7 - CBC.ca