Canadians Told to Avoid Non-Essential Travel Outside Country

(Bloomberg) -- Canadians are being urged to avoid non-essential travel out of the country until further notice as other nations rush to close their borders amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“To limit the spread of Covid-19, many countries have put in place travel or border restrictions and other measures such as movement restrictions and quarantines,” Global Affairs Canada posted on its travel advisory website. “Airlines have canceled flights. New restrictions may be imposed with little warning. Your travel plans may be severely disrupted and you may be forced to remain outside of Canada longer than expected.”

The warning was issued as the U.S. on Saturday broadened its temporary travel bans to include the U.K. and Ireland, two countries left out of an earlier order. President Donald Trump said travel limits within the U.S. are also possible as the country seeks to slow the spread of Covid-19, which has been detected in all but one state.

The Canadian government has stepped up travel warnings in recent days, including advising citizens to avoid cruise ships. On Friday, the government said it was deferring the cruise ship season until July 1, at the earliest. Passenger rail service, Via Rail Canada, also suspended its Canadian and Ocean operations, its long distance Eastern and Western routes until March 27, according to a statement issued Friday evening.

Canada has seen coronavirus cases spread in the past week, with 193 infected people in seven provinces, with the majority in Ontario and British Columbia as of Saturday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Doug Alexander in Toronto at dalexander3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, ;Derek Decloet at ddecloet@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann

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