The United States' land borders with Mexico and Canada would remain closed for holiday travel. 


US Borders with Mexico, Canada Will Remain Close Until December
(Photo : Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
U.S Begins To Tighten Border Procedures SAN YSIDRO, CA - JANUARY 8: Pedestrians head through turnstiles into Mexico from the United States January 8, 2007 in San Ysidro, California. Beginning on January 23rd, United States passengers traveling by air will be required to show a passport when traveling to Mexico or the Caribbean. Congress is also pushing to require passports when traveling by land or sea to from the United States to Mexico or Canada by early 2008.

Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, announced Thursday that the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada would remain closed until December 21, as per USA Today.

"In order to continue preventing the spread of COVID-19, the US, Mexico, & Canada will extend the restrictions on non-essential travel through December 21," Chad tweeted.

He added that they are working closely with Mexico and Canada in keeping essential trade and travel open while also protecting citizens from the virus.

For his part, Bill Blair, Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, wrote on Twitter that the border-closure decisions would continue based on the best public health advice to keep Canadians safe.

Even though travel restrictions have been extended on a monthly basis, the borders would not be likely to open anytime soon due to the surge of infections.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases worldwide with more than 11 million, while Mexico and Canada have more than one million and 300,000, respectively.

Read also: US Border Authorities Expel Migrant Children to Other Countries Far From Their Families

On Tuesday, Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said the pandemic seems to be escalating in both countries. 

She added that "would seem to suggest that these measures are with us for a while," the Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The previous extension was supposed to end on November 21.

After the COVID-19 pandemic spike in mid-October, government officials announced multiple extensions as the case counts continue to rise. Both the U.S. land borders remain close to all except for the essential traffic. U.S. citizens could also still travel by air, as per USA Today.

Extended family members who live in the U.S. could seek an exemption to the restrictions to travel in Canada. The Canadian government will allow them provided that they follow the COVID-19 requirements. 

Mexico is the fourth country to top over 100,000 Covid deaths

José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico's director of epidemiology, announced Thursday that Mexico had 100,104 confirmed coronavirus fatalities, making it the fourth country to pass 100,000-mark in virus-related deaths behind the United States, Brazil, and India.

According to NBC News, this milestone came less than a week after the country topped one million registered COVID-19 cases. But officials believed that the numbers could be higher due to low levels of testing.

Read also: US, Mexico, Canada Extend Border Restrictions Until September