The US-Mexico border will temporarily close to “non-essential traffic” in an effort to control and slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The Trump administration has closed its borders with both Mexico and Canada in recent days. The border closures will go into effect at midnight on Saturday, but will not affect trade, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.
US-Mexico and US-Canada border restrictions are due be in place for at least 30 days.
On Wednesday President Trump announced that the border with Canada would be closed to non-essential traffic “by mutual consent”.
During Friday’s news briefing he said the Mexican border would be sealed off to “unscreened” travellers.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said the US was “working with both our Canadian partners as well as our Mexican partners” to limit “non-essential travel”.
He added: “We want to make sure cargo continues, trade continues, healthcare workers continue to be able to traverse that border. But tourism, some recreational activities and other things need to stop during this crisis.”
MacDailyNews Note: More info on the Prevention & Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) via the U.S. CDC is here. Track the Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) here.