President Joe Biden has reinstated COVID-19 travel restrictions for non-US travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries, which allow travel across open borders
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Monday reinstated COVID-19 travel restrictions for most non-US travelers in Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders. He also added South Africa to the list.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said South Africa had been added to the shortlist due to concerns about a variant of the virus that had spread beyond that nation.
“This is not the time to lift international travel restrictions,” Psaki said.
Biden’s reinstatement ban suspends entry to almost all foreign nationals who have been on any of the countries on the restricted list at any time during the 14 days prior to the scheduled trip to the United States.
Dr Anthony Fauci, a top US infectious disease expert, on Monday called for Biden’s decision to restore travel restrictions – and add South Africa to the list – in a round of television interviews.
“We are concerned about the mutation in South Africa,” Fauci told CBS This Morning. “It simply came to our notice then. It is clear that it is different and worse than in the UK and I think it is very prudent to restrict the travel of non-citizens. ”
Biden has revered an order from President Donald Trump in his last days in office calling for the relaxation of travel restrictions starting Tuesday. Trump’s move was corroborated by a new requirement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that all international travelers to the United States get a negative test for COVID-19 within three days of boarding the flight.
Last week, Biden extended the CDC’s requirement and ordered federal agencies to require international travelers to quarantine upon arrival in the United States and obtain another negative test to slow the spread of the virus. These requirements also come into force on Tuesday.
The State Department said in a statement that US citizens should reconsider non-essential travel abroad, noting that access to testing in some countries remains difficult. The agency also warned Americans to consider before international travel how they would pay for health care and additional accommodation costs if they became infected or hospitalized while traveling.
The 26 European countries affected by the reinstatement of the ban are part of the Schengen area without borders. These include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain , Sweden and Switzerland.
Biden’s team had announced it would reinstate travel restrictions, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list highlights the new administration’s concern about the virus’s mutations.
The South African variant was not discovered in the United States, but another variant – originally from the United Kingdom – was detected in several states.
Fauci said that there is a “very slight, modest decrease” in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against these variants, but “there are enough pillows with the vaccines we have, which we still consider effective against both the UK strain and and those of the South African Stem. “
But he warned that more mutations are possible and said scientists are preparing to adapt vaccines if necessary.
“We really need to make sure that we start, and we already have, to prepare if it is necessary to update the vaccines,” Fauci said. “We are already taking steps in this direction, despite the fact that the vaccines we have now work.”