President Joe Biden will again impose a travel ban on COVID-19 President Trump has raised with less than 48 hours as president, a White House official confirmed to CBS News. Mr Biden is expected to reinstate the ban on Monday.
The ban will apply to all non-US travelers entering the US from Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 European countries. There will also be travel restrictions for non-Americans entering the US from South Africa.
News of the travel ban was first reported by Reuters.
On January 18, the Trump administration announced that it would lift some of the travel ban restrictions that were implemented in March. As of January 26, the Trump administration has said it will remove travel restrictions in Brazil, Britain, Ireland and parts of Europe. The restrictions imposed on Iran and China would remain in force under the Trump administration’s ban.
Mr Trump cited coordination with US officials and transparency as a justification for lifting travel restrictions in Europe and Brazil.
Biden White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki immediately posted on Twitter that the administration received did not intend to comply with this change.
“With the worsening pandemic and the emergence of more contagious variants around the world, now is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel,” Psaki wrote.
The White House official, who is directly aware of the action, also said on Sunday that the Centers for Disease Control will not consider granting temporary exemptions to airlines to exempt countries with limited COVID testing capacity. CDC officials will consider humanitarian exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
A White House official also confirmed to CBS News that CDC director Rochelle Walensky will sign a separate order on Monday that will require masks on all planes, trains, subways, ferries, buses and parking services like Uber and Lyft.
Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.