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

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

“There is a belief that as we move forward, there will be a special consideration given to this relationship. But at the same time we know that before talking about such restrictions, there is still a significant time.” Trudeau told in a daily briefing.

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

Official data posted by the Public Health Agency reported that the number of people who died of coronavirus in Canada rose by only 10% to 1,048 in one day.

As of 11:00 pm ET (1500 GMT) on Thursday, the total number of people diagnosed with coronavirus was 28,9999. The corresponding figures for the same time on Wednesday were 954 deaths and 27,540 positive diagnoses.