Biden dismisses Trump’s edict

COVID: US WON’T LIFT TRAVEL BAN ON EUROPE, BRAZIL

‘Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26.’

US president-elect Joe Biden’s spokeswoman quickly dismissed Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that a Covid-19 ban on travellers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted, underlining the fractious transition of power.

“On the advice of our medical team, the administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26,” tweeted Jen Psaki, Biden’s press secretary.

“In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel to further mitigate the spread of Covid-19.”

Just minutes prior to Psaki’s tweet, President Trump said he would lift the travel ban on Europe and Brazil, although travel bans for China and Iran would remain in place.

“This action is the best way to continue protecting Americans from Covid-19 while enabling travel to resume safely,” he said in a statement released by the White House.

Trump had announced an initial ban on 31 January, 2020 on non-American travellers entering from China to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The ban was extended to European countries on 14 March, the US shutting itself off from the world as the pandemic entered full force.

Both Biden and Trump’s statements come days after the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced that all air passengers bound for the US will be required to test negative for Covid-19 within three days of their departure.

The test policy will take effect on Tuesday and expands on a previous testing rule that targeted Britain and came into effect in December, following the emergence of a coronavirus variant believed to be more transmissible.

Some epidemiologists have warned it is likely that new, more transmissible variants are already establishing themselves in the United States.

Biden will be inaugurated today after a rocky handover of power and in the midst of an alarming surge of Covid-19 cases in the US. –