The Canada-U.S. border will not be reopening to non-essential traffic for at least another month, Department of Homeland Security officials say.
“To fight COVID-19 spread and protect our citizens, the U.S. is continuing restrictions on non-essential travel at land borders through June 21,” it announced Thursday in a tweet.
“We’re working closely with Canada and Mexico to safely ease restrictions as conditions improve.”
To fight #COVID19 spread and protect our citizens, the U.S. is continuing restrictions on non-essential travel at land borders through June 21, while allowing essential trade & travel. We're working closely with Canada & Mexico to safely ease restrictions as conditions improve.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 20, 2021
READ ALSO: No-quarantine cross-border COVID-19 vaccination trip OK with Ottawa
Since March of last year, the border has been closed to non-essential traffic, allowing only essential trade and travel to pass through.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that lifting travel restrictions more will be dependent on high vaccination rates and low COVID-19 community transmission.
“Before we get back to normal cases need to be under control and over 75 per cent of people need to be vaccinated for us to start loosening things in Canada.”
Trudeau confirmed the continued border closure Thursday.
Update on the Canada-US border: To protect your health and limit the spread of COVID-19, we’re extending the measures currently in place by another 30 days. Non-essential travel between our two countries remains restricted until June 21st.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 20, 2021
READ MORE: U.S. border agency says COVID vax not essential; Canadians could be denied entry
@sarahgrowch
sarah.grochowski@bpdigital.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Want to support local journalism? Make a donation here.
