By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden plans to rapidly expand travel restrictions imposed by most people who have recently been to much of Europe and Brazil, shortly after President Donald Trump lifted the requirements on January 26. a spokesman for Biden said. .
Trump on Monday signed an order lifting the restrictions he imposed early last year in response to the pandemic – a decision first reported by Reuters on Monday – after gaining support from members of the Coronavirus task force and public health officials.
Shortly after Trump’s order was announced, Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted “on the advice of our medical team, the government does not intend to lift these restrictions at 1/26.”
She added that “with the worsening pandemic and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel.”
Until Biden acts, Trump’s order will end the same day new COVID-19 testing requirements take effect for all international visitors. Trump will leave office on Wednesday.
Last week, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed an order requiring almost all air travelers to present a negative coronavirus test or proof of COVID-19 recovery to start the United States starting January 26th.
The restrictions that Trump revoked banned almost all non-US citizens who have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the 26 countries of the Schengen area in Europe for the past 14 days who are allowed to travel across open borders.
The U.S. restrictions that ban most visitors from Europe have been in place since mid-March when Trump signed proclamations to impose them, while the Brazilian curfew was imposed in May.
Psaki added that “we intend to strengthen public health measures around international travel to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” Biden’s transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment if he plans to expand the lands covered.
Biden, who is once in office, has the legal power to reinstate the restrictions.
Last Tuesday, Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s global division for migration and quarantine, told Reuters the access ban was an ‘opening action strategy’ to address the spread of viruses and should now be ‘actively reconsidered’.
Airlines hoped that the new test requirements could pave the way for the administration to lift the travel restrictions of some European countries by 95% or more.
Over the past few days, they have been pressuring senior White House officials over the matter.
Many administrative officials argued for months that the restrictions no longer made sense, as most countries were not under the access ban. Others have argued that the United States should not waive access bans as many European countries still block most American citizens.
Reuters reported earlier that the White House is not considering lifting the access ban on most non-US citizens who have recently been to China or Iran. Trump confirmed Monday he will not lift it.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Howard Goller and Nick Zieminski)