Mexico to keep US border closed to non-essential travel
![Mexico to keep US border closed to non-essential travel](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2020/mexicotokeep.jpg "Dulce Garcia, right, carries a cup of coffee as she crosses the border from Mexicali, Mexico, to Calexico, Calif., Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Like many in Mexicali, Garcia lives in Mexico but works in Calexico. "Everybody's scared of the pandemic but we have to cross," Garcia said. "We have to survive." (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)")
Mexico plans to extend the closure of its shared border with the United States for another month to non-essential travel, Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday.
The current agreement runs through Aug. 21, but Ebrard said it does not make sense to reopen the border at this time.
"We already told the United States that we're of the idea that it's extended because of what we have along the strip on their side," Ebrard said, referring to a surge in cases in the southwestern United States.
The travel restriction at the shared land border was first announced March 18 and has been renewed monthly. It has included the U.S.-Canada border as well.
"The border couldn't be opened right now," Ebrard said. "It wouldn't be logical that we change it right now, so it will be another month."
Mexico has reported about 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections and about 55,000 deaths, both considered to be significant undercounts due to very limited testing.
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A Border Patrol vehicle sits near the border wall separating Mexicali, Mexico from Calexico, Calif., Tuesday, July 21, 2020, in Calexico. The city of 1 million just to the south brings tens of thousands of people daily to cross. Janette Angulo, Imperial County's public health director, estimates the population doubles during the day in winter, making the official count deceptively low. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) -
Gilberto Gil picks up a ball in a park as the border wall that separates Mexicali, Mexico from Calexico, Calif., sits in the distance, Tuesday, July 21, 2020, in Calexico. Imperial Valley is surrounded on three sides in the U.S. by vast, uninhabited desert and Mexicali's urban sprawl to the south. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
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