Covid-19: Biden adds South Africa to travel ban

Jan, 26th 2021 – The Biden administration has renewed Trump-era Covid-19 travel bans on non-US visitors from Brazil and most of Europe, including the UK and Ireland.

Former President Donald Trump had ordered the bans to end on 26 January as one of his final acts in office. The new travel restrictions came as Minnesota recorded the first US case of the Brazil variant from a resident who had recently traveled to that country.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, “This case marks the first documented instance of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States.”

The decision to continue with the restrictions was confirmed by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. He said, “On the advice of our administration’s medical and Covid team, President Biden has decided to maintain the restrictions previously in place for the European Schengen Area, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and Brazil.”

He added, “With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants spreading, this isn’t the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel. And in light of the contagious variant, B1351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list.”

The travel ban which have been in place since March will also require the traveller to present a negative Covid-19 test result. The White House also imposed a new ban on South Africa over its virus variant.

Biden also added that his initial 100 million rollout of the vaccine.

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