US, Canada likely to extend ban on nonessential travel until June 21

(TAN): Canada and the United States are expected to keep their border closed to nonessential travel until June 21 owing to COVID-19, reports said.

The two North American nations had first shut their shared border for 30 days on March 21 in an effort to slow the spread of the virus between the two countries, as per reports. On April 18, they had extended the restrictions until May 21 as cases continued to go up on both sides of the border.

Canada is reportedly in favour of extending the existing ban.

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“It’s too early to lift the restrictions, so we’re working toward an extension,” a Canadian government source was quoted by Reuters as saying.

They reportedly described the discussions with the United States as positive.

Meanwhile, Acting Secretary of United States Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf reportedly said the measures across the borders with Canada and Mexico would possibly be extended. He added representatives from Canada and Mexico were keen on continuing the restrictions for at least the short term, as per reports.

According to reports, Canada’s chief public health officer Theresa Tam said Canada is at risk from those parts of the United States where cases are steadily on the rise.

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“We need to be able to see what happens when we ease the domestic public health measures before we can essentially look at the international border easing up. The United States being one country that still has cases and is still trying to manage outbreaks … presents a risk to Canada from that perspective,” she was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying.

Data from Johns Hopkins University showed the United States has reported nearly 1.42 million cases of infection including 85,884 deaths. Canada, on the other hand, has 74,781 cases that include 5,592 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 numbers. 

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