(TAN): The United States and Canada have agreed to keep the border closed to all nonessential travel for at least another month, reports said.
“This is an important decision that will keep people in both of our countries safe,” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“It was the right thing to further extend by 30 days our closure of the Canada, US border to travelers other than essential services and goods, but we will continue to watch carefully what’s happening elsewhere in the world and around us as we make decisions on next steps,” CNN quoted him as saying.
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. The extension for another 30 days means restrictions will reportedly prevail until June 21.
While cross-border travel remains out of bounds for visitors and tourists, healthcare workers and trade will continue to be exempted from the ban, reports said.
“The decisions that were taking are very much made week-to-week in this crisis. The situation is changing rapidly and we’re adjusting constantly to what are the right measures for Canadians to get that balance right between keeping people safe, and restoring a semblance of normality and economic activity that we all rely on,” Prime Minister Trudeau was quoted by CTV News as saying.
He reportedly said even after nonessential travel resumes Canada would need to implement “strong measures” such as requiring quarantine, health checks and tracking for people arriving in Canada, including those from the United States.
“We know that we need to do more to ensure that travelers who are coming back from overseas or the US as Canadian are being properly followed up on, are properly isolated and don’t become further vectors for the spread of COVID-19,” Prime Minister Trudeau was quoted by CNN as saying.
There have been 80,458 cases of infection in Canada including 6,025 deaths while the United States has reported over 1.52 million cases that comprise 91,661 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University showed.
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