OTTAWA – The Canadian government does not feel pressure from the United States to lift border restrictions despite comments by President Donald Trump that he expects the border to reopen soon, says Public Safety Minister Bill Blair. Premier Doug Ford is lobbying Ottawa for the restrictions to continue, fearing an influx of COVID-19 just as cases in Canada are beginning to spike again. Blair noted that in Atlantic Canada, where rules require all travellers — including Canadians — to quarantine for 14 days, there are almost no active cases. Blair said only three per cent of COVID-19 transmission in Canada is related to travel, and not all those cases are from international travel. Health Canada reports that in Canadian cases of COVID-19, one per cent came from contact with a traveller, and in 3.9 per cent of cases, the patient had travelled outside of Canada.

Source: thestar September 25, 2020 22:03 UTC