Canada’s border restrictions with the United States will remain in place “for a significant time” as the two nations fight the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

Washington and Ottawa agreed last month to clamp down on non-essential travel while allowing trade flows between the two neighboring nations to continue across the long shared border.

“There’s a recognition that as we move forward there will be special thought given to this relationship. But at the same time we know that there is a significant amount of time, still, before we can talk about loosening such restrictions.” Trudeau told a daily briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday told reporters the two nations were “doing well” and said “It will be one of the early borders to be released”.

The number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada rose by just under 10% to 1,048 in a day, official data posted by the public health agency showed.

By 11:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on Thursday, the total number of those diagnosed with the coronavirus had climbed to 28,899. The respective figures at the same time on Wednesday were 954 deaths and 27,540 positive diagnoses.

Reuters