Premier Brian Pallister says he wants Manitobans to remain careful as restrictions lift, and announced today that people coming into Manitoba will once again have to self-isolate for two weeks.

"This is being done out of an abundance of caution to protect Manitobans," he says, warning that variants of the virus are showing up throughout Canada. This will include travellers from western Canada, who were previously exempt from self-isolation.

"Now is not the time for non-essential travel," the Premier says, once again pushing for Manitobans to keep their contacts limited.

The Premier made the statements at a last-minute press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

checkpoint at manitoba borderProvincial staff hand COVID-19 information to people arriving into Manitoba from Ontario in the summer of 2020. The Premier says there will be no border checkpoints at this time.

While variants of COVID-19 have been showing up in other areas of the nation, the Premier says they are thankfully not in Manitoba yet. He warns that the variants are more contagious and more deadly than the current strain.

The Premier says details are being finalized and public health officials will update later on Tuesday, most likely.

It's expected there may be buffer zones again within a certain distance of the border, or exceptions for people that live near the border. As well, it's expected that essential service workers will likely be exempt. However, the Premier cautioned that he has received reports that essential service workers have used their status to go on vacations without isolating upon their return. Pallister says that is not the spirit of the exemption status, and the province will be looking at adding more enforcement.