By Jennifer Hansler, Paula Newton and Betsy Klein, CNN
US Customs officers stand beside a sign saying that the US border is closed at the US/Canada border in Lansdowne, Ontario, on March 22, 2020. - The United States agreed with Mexico and Canada to restrict non-essential travel because of the coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak and is planning to repatriate undocumented immigrants arriving from those countries. (Photo by Lars Hagberg / AFP) (Photo by LARS HAGBERG/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN)Nonessential travel between the US and its two closest neighbors -- Canada and Mexico -- is expected remain blocked until at least late August amid spikes in confirmed coronavirus cases in large swaths of the US.
Two Canadian government sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN Tuesday that the border with Canada is expected to remain closed until at least August 21. Later on Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry announced that it was extending its border restrictions, also until August 21.
The decisions to extend restrictions on both the northern and southern border come as the more than half of US states have paused or rolled back reopening plans and confirmed cases in the United States approach 3.5 million.
The extended restrictions on travel between the US and Canada will include stepped-up enforcement and surveillance at most Canadian land borders in the coming weeks, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized the speak publicly on the matter.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry said on its official Twitter Tuesday that "after checking the rise of the COVID-19 spread, Mexico proposed to the US the extension of all non-essential traffic restriction at the common border for 30 more days."
"Both countries will continue looking to coordinate the sanitary measures at the border region. The measures will be valid until August 21, 2020," the ministry added.
Both borders have been closed to non-essential travel since March, although the administration's actions on limiting travel across the southern border also seemed designed to curb migration to the United States, a pillar of Trump's immigration agenda.
