US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will reverse outgoing President Donald Trump’s decision to re-open travel into the US from Europe and Brazil.
President Trump signed an order on Monday lifting the travel restrictions he imposed in March of last year from 26 January.
However, soon after the announcement, Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted: “on advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26”.
She added:“With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel.”
In fact, the Biden administration appears ready to tighten travel restrictions, as the virus continues to rampage through the country.
Psaki added that “in fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19”.
Since March 2020, nearly all non-US citizens have been banned from entering the country if they have been in Europe in the previous 14 days, with the same ban imposed on travellers from Brazil in May 2020.
President Trump’s decision to lift the ban on these regions on 26 January coincided with a new policy created by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which states nearly all travellers entering the US will need to present a negative COVID-19 test prior to entering the country.
President Trump is due to leave office on Wednesday.
The US also has in place entry bans on travellers from China and Iran, which President Trump made no attempt to reverse.
