CNN – President Donald Trump on Monday lifted travel restrictions related to coronavirus to much of Europe, the UK, Ireland and Brazil, as of January 26 – a move that President-elect Joe Biden’s government has promised to block.
In an executive order issued on Monday night, Trump said he had been advised to lift restrictions on the entry of travelers to the United States from 26 European countries in the Schengen Zone, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brazil, but left in force the restrictions on travel from Iran and China.
“I agree with the secretary that this action is the best way to continue protecting Americans from COVID-19 while allowing travel to resume safely,” wrote Trump in the dispatch, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar .
Biden is expected to assume the presidency on Wednesday and his new press secretary, Jen Psaki, said his government would not lift the restrictions.
“With the worsening of the pandemic and more contagious variants emerging around the world, it is no time to lift restrictions on international travel,” said Psaki on Twitter. “Following the advice of our medical team, the government does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures in relation to international travel, in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19. “
Reuters was the first to report the request.
The expected easing of travel restrictions comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that it will require a negative Covid-19 test of all airline passengers entering the United States – a move he said can help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Air passengers will be required to test within three days of their flight departure to the United States and provide written documentation of their laboratory results, or Covid-19 recovery documentation, the agency said in a statement to CNN .
CNN contacted the White House Coronavirus Task Force to find out if the panel approved the early action.
The combination of the test program announced last week with the lifting of travel restrictions is in line with the interests of several airlines that are in negotiations with the CDC and the White House. Earlier this month, a group of major airlines asked the Trump administration to broadly expand a program to test passengers to the United States while simultaneously lifting travel restrictions.
Airlines for America – with members including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines – wrote to Vice President Mike Pence asking the administration to implement “a global program to require testing for travelers to the United States”. Such a program would allow authorities to release restrictions on entry into the United States from the European Union, the United Kingdom and Brazil, the group wrote.
Last month, the CDC announced that passengers arriving in the United States from the United Kingdom should test negative for Covid-19 before departure in response to a new variant of the coronavirus that is said to have originated in the United Kingdom and is potentially more transmissible. At least 72 cases of a variant first identified in the UK have been found in 10 U.S. states, according to data published last week by the CDC.
Many of the countries affected by the Trump order have their own recent requirements for American travelers who wish to enter their borders. US travelers must have a negative Covid-19 test in the previous 72 hours to travel to the UK or Ireland, and in conjunction with proof of a completed Traveler Health Declaration to enter Brazil. American travelers cannot enter countries in the Schengen Zone, including Spain (except permission or special requirements), Germany, France, Italy and Sweden.
The possible reversal of the travel restriction would occur when the Trump administration shifted to another element of the response to coronavirus in the president’s final days in office.
The Department of Health and Human Services was due to announce radical changes last week in vaccine distribution guidelines in an effort to increase the number of vaccinations delayed in the first month – effectively taking the approach proposed by the new Biden administration.
Since then, hopes for an increase in Covid-19 vaccine shipments under a new policy to release second doses held in reserve appear to be evaporating – with the revelation that those doses have already been distributed, contrary to recent Trump administration indications. .
A senior government official told CNN that when the government announced it would release reserved doses last Friday, many of those reserves had already been released into the system as of last year, when production was increasing.
This story has been updated with new developments.