A traveler leaves a test center at Heathrow Airport on 17 January 2021 in London.
Hollie Adams | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The incoming Biden administration said on Monday that it would not lift the access ban for most visitors from Europe, the UK and Brazil, shortly after President Donald Trump ordered the termination of Covid-19’s travel restrictions.
“With the escalation of the pandemic and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel,” said Electoral Presidential spokesman Jen Psaki.
Trump introduced the rules early in the pandemic to curb the spread of the virus and recalled it Monday, a few days before Biden’s inauguration Wednesday. They banned access to the US for most non-US citizens if they had been in Brazil, the 26 countries in the Schengen area of Europe, Ireland or the United Kingdom in the past two weeks.
Trump’s order comes less than a week after the US said that travelers arriving from abroad, including US citizens, should test negative for Covid-19 before flying. This requirement will take effect on January 26, the same day that the travel restrictions would be lifted.
Airline has repeatedly called on the US government to lift the travel ban, which has contributed to a sharp drop in demand for air travel, with the test before the Covid-19 flight.