Mexico eyes easing U.S. border curbs from June 22, depending on COVID

FILE PHOTO: Cars stand in line at the Cordova International Bridge at the Mexico - U.S. border to enter into El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico August 24, 2020. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico and the United States are discussing relaxing curbs on non-essential land border crossings from June 22, depending on the spread of COVID-19 and how many people in both countries have been vaccinated, Mexico’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The two neighbors have agreed to extend for another month restrictions on non-essential travel across their shared border until just before midnight on June 21, the ministry said in statement on Twitter.

Mexico has also decided to extend curbs on non-essential travel on its southern border with Guatemala over the same period, it added.

“Mexico and the United States are in discussions to relax from June 22 the restrictions on border crossings on the basis of indices on the spread of COVID-19 and the number of vaccines applied on both sides of the border,” the ministry said.

Mexico, which has a population of 126 million, has so far administered nearly 24 million vaccine doses against COVID-19, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Numbers of new infections and deaths from the virus in Mexico have fallen sharply in recent weeks.

Earlier, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a regular news conference that his country was hoping that restrictions on the U.S.-Mexico border imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic would be lifted during the summer.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito)

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