OTTAWA - Ottawa and Washington are in talks to extend the closure of the Canada-US border, as concerns persist over the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.
"It is clear that there is broad consensus across the provinces that we need to continue to keep our current border measures in place," Trudeau said after consulting with provincial leaders.
The world's longest international frontier - at 8,900 kilometres - was closed to all non-essential travellers on both sides on 21 March in response to the coronavirus crisis. The closure has led to a massive drop in cross-border traffic - of up to 95 percent, according to Statistics Canada - but trade has continued unabated.
Ottawa last week announced an exemption to allow thousands of foreign nationals to reunite with their families in Canada, following reports of hardship cases such as an American looking to join his Canadian wife for the birth of their first child.A loophole allowing Americans from southern 48 states to transit through Canada to Alaska, meanwhile, has raised fresh concerns.
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