The Canada-US border will remain closed to non-essential traffic for another 30 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced the extension Friday. Barring another extension to the joint agreement, the restrictions will remain in place until Sept. 21.
“We will continue to do what’s necessary to keep our communities safe,” Blair said in a tweet.
We are extending the reciprocal restrictions at the Canada-US border for another 30 days, till Sept. 21, 2020. We will continue to do what’s necessary to keep our communities safe.
— Bill Blair (@BillBlair) August 14, 2020
COVID-19 remains widespread across the U.S., where cases of the virus surpassed 5 million earlier this week, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control.
This is the fifth time that the closure has been extended since it was implemented in March. Since then, nearly 13,000 travellers have been refused entry to Canada, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
However, the land border remains open to essential workers, such as truck drivers and health care professionals. Meanwhile, Canadians can still travel to the U.S. by air.
Last month, the federal government also took steps to close the so-called Alaska loophole. Currently, U.S. travellers headed to the northern state are limited to five crossings in Western Canada, must take a direct route, and report to CBSA officers when they leave the country.
