WASHINGTON (US) – US President-elect Joe Biden plans to swiftly extend travel restrictions preventing travel by most people who were recently in much of Europe and Brazil soon after President Donald Trump removed those requirements effective January 26, a spokeswoman for Biden said.
Trump signed an order on Monday lifting the restrictions he enforced early last year in response to the pandemic.
Soon after Trump’s order was declared, Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted “on the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26.”
She added that “With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel.”
Trump is due to leave office on Wednesday.
The restrictions Trump cancelled have prevented nearly all non-US citizens who within the last 14 days have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the 26 countries of the Schengen area in Europe, where travel across open borders are allowed.
Psaki added that “in fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” The Biden transition have not responded to whether it planned to expand the countries that the restrictions covered.
Biden, once in office, has the legal authority to reimpose the restrictions.
Airlines had pinned hopes that the new testing requirements would pave way for the administration to remove restrictions limiting travel from some European countries by 95% or more.
Many administration officials for months argued that the restrictions did not make sense any longer, as most countries did not have to follow entry bans. Others have argued that United States must retain entry bans since many European countries still do not allow most US citizens.