Mexico City, Sep 18 (IANS): Mexico and the US have extended the ban on non-essential border crossings until October 21 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Foreign Affairs Ministry here said.

Mexico's government recommended extending the ban originally imposed on March 21, after assessing the current state of Covid-19 outbreaks, Xinhua news agency agency quoted the Ministry as saying on Thursday.

"After reviewing the development of the spread of Covid-19, Mexico proposed to the US extending for another month the restrictions on non-essential ground traffic on their shared border," the Ministry said via Twitter.

The nearly six-month ban prevents border crossings for tourism, leisure or shopping but does not affect trade or crossing for work or medical reasons.

Before the extension announcement, the ban was imposed till September 21.

Meanwhile, air travel between the US and Mexico remains unrestricted.

Under normal circumstances, thousands of people cross the common border every day for work, school and tourism purposes.

The US currently accounts for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 6,674,070 and 197,615, respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Mexico comes in the seventh place in terms of cases at 684,113 and with (72,179 deaths, it accounts for the fourth highest in the world.