Premier Doug Ford says he does not want to reopen the Canada-US border any time soon, citing a rise in coronavirus cases in the southern states.
A temporary border closer for non-essential travel was agreed upon by Canada and the US in March. The closure has been extended a number of times since then and the current extension runs to July 21, reports CP24.
On Friday, at his daily briefing, Ford noted that he has expressed to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland that he is not in favour of opening the border this month
"I said very clearly I am not in favour of opening up the borders July 21. As long as the goods and products are flowing which they have been (we should keep it closed). I love our American neighbours but not right now," he said. "Come and visit us when things cool down, especially south of the border."
Ford said he is hopeful that government officials will remain "very cautious" when reopening borders.
"I talked to a very smart doctor the other day and I said 'Doc when do you think the second wave is coming?' and he said 'Doug, as soon as you open up the border to international travel that is when you are going to get hit.' So that is concerning," Ford said.
Almost 60,000 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the US on Friday, with 11,433 of them occurring in Florida.
Canada has been doing well in the last week as the country has seen an average of only about 380 daily cases.
The United States has now seen over 3 million confirmed coronavirus cases, which makes it the country that has been hit the hardest in the world. It has also seen over 133,000 deaths, and nearly 1.5 million recoveries.
Dr.Issac Bogoch, and infectious disease specialist told CP24 that Canada mostly has the pandemic under control and the US is "the complete opposite."
"If we reopen our border we are going to import more cases to Canada and we could undo everything we have done here which would be really upsetting," he said. "I think it should be closed for the foreseeable future."
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