Canada-US border expected to be closed by Saturday: Trudeau

Ottawa, March 20 (AFP/APP): The Canada-US border is expected to close to non-essential travel by Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “We are continuing to work on the fine-tuning of the agreement between Canada (and) the United States, I think it’s almost there,” Trudeau told a news conference Thursday from his home. The Canadian leader and his family have been self-isolating for a week after his wife Sophie tested positive for COVID-19 following her return from a speaking engagement in Britain. Trudeau and US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the temporary shutdown of their countries’ shared 8,900-kilometer (5,500-mile) border — the longest in the world. “My understanding is that the measure will probably come into place in the night between Friday and Saturday, so in about a day and a half,” Trudeau said Thursday. Trump has said the Canada-US border would likely be reopened in “say 30 days.” The measure follows similar US moves to bar visitors from most of Europe, China and other parts of the world as its number of coronavirus cases surges. The United States has recorded 10,755 cases of coronavirus infection, more than 150 of them fatal. In Canada, the number of cases passed 800 … Continue reading Canada-US border expected to be closed by Saturday: Trudeau