WASHINGTON — The U.S.-Canada border will remain closed until at least Feb. 21, 2021, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday.
Trudeau said that nonessential travel across the U.S.-Canada land border will remain banned. Canada and the U.S. agreed to the ban in March and have renewed it monthly ever since.
The move comes, again, as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths spike in the states.
Trudeau also said Tuesday that Canada has an agreement with Pfizer to buy an additional 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. Agreements with Moderna and Pfizer alone mean Canada will now have 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines arriving this year, Trudeau said.
“We are on track to have every Canadian who wants a vaccine receive one by September,” Trudeau said.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
The United States has more than 22 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
As of Tuesday, the U.S. had more than 377,000 deaths from the virus. Worldwide, there are more than 91 million confirmed cases with more than 1.9 million deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.