US, Canada, Mexico extend cross border ban for non-essential purposes until June 22

The United States on May 19 extended the non-essential cross border ban for another one month after consulting with authorities in Canada and Mexico. The original border ban for non-essential purposes that came into effect on March 24 was set to expire on May 20, but it has now been extended for another 30 days keeping in mind the growing coronavirus cases in the region. 

According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the extension of the cross border ban will go into effect at 12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on May 21, 2020, and will remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 22, 2020. 

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"The President has made it clear that we must continue to keep legitimate, commercial trade flowing while limiting those seeking to enter our country for non-essential purposes. Non-essential travel will not be permitted until this administration is convinced that doing so is safe and secure. We have been in contact with our Canadian and Mexican counterparts and they also agree that extending these restrictions is prudent at this time," the DHS said in a statement published on their webpage. 

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COVID-19 outbreak

The United States remains the worst affected country by coronavirus outbreak in terms of both the death toll and the total number of confirmed cases. According to figures by worldometer website, the United States has recorded over 1.5 million COVID-19 infections and more than 93,500 deaths. There are currently 1,115,870 active cases in the North American country with 17,249 of them still under critical condition. 

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Meanwhile, Canada, which lies on the northern border of the US has recorded 79,112 cases and 5,912 deaths to date. Mexico on the other hand has registered 54,346 confirmed cases, of which    2,713 came in the last 24 hours. Over 5,600 people have lost their lives in Mexico, while 378 patients remain under serious conditions as of May 20. The global tally from the disease outbreak stands at 4.98 million infected people and over 3,24,000 deaths. 

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(Image Credit: AP)