Trudeau: Canada won’t lift border restrictions until virus is significantly under control worldwide

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada won’t lift restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border until the coronavirus is significantly under control throughout the world.

Canada has limited border crossings to essential travel since March. Trudeau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Canada is fortunate that trade in essential goods like agriculture products and pharmaceuticals is still flowing back and forth.

Trudeau says it’s critical that people not travel. He says while President-elect Joe Biden has an “obvious” different approach on the pandemic than President Donald Trump, the situation in the U.S. remains serious. The United States leads the world with 13.6 million coronavirus cases and nearly 270,000 deaths.

About 400,000 people crossed the world’s longest international border each day before the pandemic closed it to nonessential travel nine months ago.