Definitely BS. The real answer is probably no one knows, not some random agent, not any immigration officers, not the immigration minister, not even Trudeau. There is no reason to start giving COPRs if they can't travel. Then it will just expire and they will go into a different category of applicants which creates more burden on IRCC. As long as there are travel restrictions for new immigrants, highly unlikely PPR will be issued for outlanders, especially by CPC Ottawa which is already overworked. And since no one knows when travel restrictions will end, no one can predict when PPRs will be issued. The only thing we can do is hope that the vaccination drive is successful and fast.