Thu | Jul 9, 2026

US keeps ban on non-essential border crossings to slow COVID

Published:Friday | August 20, 2021 | 9:31 AM
In this August 9, 2021, file photo a Canada Border Services Agency officer hands documents back to a motorist entering Canada at the Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. The US government on Friday, August 20, extended a ban on nonessential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of COVID despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States government on Friday extended a ban on non-essential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of COVID-19 despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction.

US border communities that are dependent on shoppers from Mexico and Canada and their political representatives have urged the Biden administration to lift the ban.

In addition, Canada recently began letting fully vaccinated US citizens enter the country.

But the Department of Homeland Security said in a tweet Friday that the restrictions on nonessential travel were still needed to minimise the spread of COVID-19 and the delta variant.

It extended the ban until at least September 21.

DHS said it is working with public health and medical experts to determine how to “safely and sustainably resume normal travel.”

The travel restrictions have been in place since early in the pandemic in March 2020 and repeatedly extended while allowing commercial traffic and essential crossings to continue.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.