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President Joe Biden plans to sign restrictions on travel to the United States on Monday to mitigate transmission of Covid-19, two White House officials confirmed on Sunday.
The ban would prevent most non-U.S. Citizens from entering if they’ve recently traveled to South Africa, where a new strain of Covid-19 has been identified. The virus has killed more than 418,000 people and infected more than 25 million across the United States, according to an NBC News tracker.
Biden is also expected to reinstate broader restrictions that were in effect much of last year but were rescinded by President Donald Trump days before his term ended. The limits would affect non-U.S. Citizens traveling from the UK, Ireland and much of Europe to so-called Schengen countries, which share a common visa process. Travelers from Brazil would also be affected.
Reuters was the first to report the news.
Before Biden took office, new White House press secretary in a tweet, criticized Trump’s decision to overturn the bans he had implemented.
“With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants emerging around the world, now is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel,” she said.
The restrictions are expected to be lifted on Tuesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday that as of Tuesday it would no longer consider exceptions to its requirement that international travelers present negative coronavirus tests. Airlines had asked the agency to relax the rule for some countries with limited testing capacity.
“As variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to appear in countries around the world, there is growing evidence for increased transmissibility of some of these variants, as well as unknown health and vaccine implications. “a spokesperson for the CDC said in a statement. . “Pre and post travel testing is critical in slowing the introduction and spread of COVID-19 and emerging variants.”
Monica alba contributed.
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