President Joe Biden plans to sign restrictions on travel to the United States on Monday to mitigate the Covid-19 broadcast, two White House officials confirmed on Sunday.
The ban would prevent most non-American citizens from entering if they have recently been to South Africa, where a new strain of Covid-19 has been identified. The virus killed more than 418,000 people and infected more than 25 million in the United States, according to a NBC News tracker.
Biden is also expected to reinstate broader restrictions that were in place last year, but were rescinded by President Donald Trump days before his term ended. The limits would affect non-American citizens traveling from the United Kingdom, Ireland and much of Europe in what is known as the 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 Jen Psaki in a tweet criticized Trump’s decision to rescind the prohibitions he had implemented.
“With the worsening of the pandemic and more contagious variants emerging around the world, it is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel,” she said.
The restrictions are due to be lifted on Tuesday.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday that, as of Tuesday, it will no longer consider exceptions to the requirement that international travelers test negative for coronavirus. Airlines have asked the agency to relax the rule for some countries with limited testing capacity.
“As variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to emerge in countries around the world, there is growing evidence of greater transmissibility for some of these variants, as well as unknown health and vaccine implications,” said a CDC spokesman. in a statement. “Testing before and after the trip is a critical layer for delaying the introduction and spread of COVID-19 and emerging variants.”
Monica Alba contributed.