Canada and Mexico have extended their bans on US visitors amid the escalating coronavirus outbreak in the United States with Canadian police saying cars with foreign licence plates are being attacked.
The Public Safety Minister of Canada disclosed recently that the Canada-US border still remains shut to non-essential travel for a minimum of another month.
The Public Safety Minister’s statement came one day after Mexico announced that its border with the United States still remains shut.
The restrictions were first introduced in March owing to the coronavirus pandemic and have been extended since March on a monthly basis.
However, as Canada extended the ban until September 21, 2020, polls have revealed that most Canadians would like the ban extended till at least the end of 2020..
A poll carried out by the BBC before the last extension revealed that 80 percent of Canadians want the border closed until 2021.
The New York Times reports that Canadian police have encountered a spike in calls from a lot of concerned citizens discovering vehicles with US number plates and are sounding note of warning to drivers that these discoveries might make them a target for destruction.
A lot of Canadians fear reopening of border. Canada has recorded a decrease in number of coronavirus cases whereas the US has witnessed more confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any other country in the world.
Meanwhile, important cross-border workers like airline crews, health care professionals and truck drivers are still allowed to cross as majority of Canada’s food supply comes from or through the United States.
Furthermore, Americans who are travelling back to the United States and Canadians who are travelling back to Canada are also not affected by the border closure.
