President Donald Trump on Monday said he is ending Covid-19 travel restrictions for air travelers from Europe and Brazil, a move that the incoming administration quickly rejected.
In a proclamation, Trump said the restrictions would be lifted by Jan. 26, and by, then Joe Biden will be president.
“With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel,” Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, tweeted Monday. “… In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
The travel restrictions put in place last year prevented most people without American citizenship or residency from traveling to the U.S. from the affected regions.
Trump’s proclamation said the restrictions would be lifted for Europe and Brazil to comply with an order requiring a negative Covid-19 test for those traveling by air to the U.S.
It leaves restrictions in place for China and Iran.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month required that all air passengers from other countries test negative for Covid-19 before coming to the U.S.
If the restrictions are lifted as in Trump’s move, travelers from the United Kingdom, the Schengen Area in Europe, and Ireland and Brazil would still have to test negative for Covid-19.
But the current restrictions that bar all non-US citizens who have been to those countries within the last 14 days would be lifted, according to a White House official.
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
