As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the border from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia was closed to non-essential travel for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Global News reporter Callum Smith has been at the border since early morning and says traffic is fairly smooth.
He said the majority of travellers as of 8:30 a.m. have been cross-border workers, who have a permit to travel and are waived through.
The border is staffed with border liaison officers and conservation officers.
Officers check each traveller to see if they meet the criteria to cross the border. Not much else has changed.
Border officers said there will be an RCMP presence at some point on Thursday.
Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin announced on Tuesday that it was strengthening border measures to cut off travel-related cases and lower the spread of COVID-19.
The province decided to close borders for non-essential travel to non-residents from outside of Nova Scotia, P.E.I. or Newfoundland and Labrador.
According to the province, essential travel includes people who live in Nova Scotia but whose primary employment is in another province, federally approved temporary foreign workers and post-secondary students coming to study in Nova Scotia.
“This is not the time for people to come to Nova Scotia for anything other than essential travel,” Rankin said. “Given that the pandemic is now being driven by variants that transmit more easily, this strong action is necessary to protect Nova Scotians.”
On Wednesday, the province reported its highest daily case count since November, with 25 new cases reported.
New Brunswick has had a steady number of cases, but health officials said the outbreak in the Edmundston region has not improved enough since it went into lockdown.
More to come.
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