Mexico says Delta COVID-19 variant, rising cases complicated reopening U.S.-Mexico border

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/File Photo

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday that the Delta COVID-19 variant and an increase in coronavirus cases has complicated a reopening of the U.S.-Mexico land border to non-essential travel.

The U.S. government on Wednesday extended the closure of land borders with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel such as tourism through Aug. 21 even as officials debate whether to require visitors to have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Raul Cortes Fernandez; Editing by Leslie Adler)