In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump announced the US will suspend all passenger travel from Europe, except the UK on Friday for the next 30 days to stop the spread of coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 4,500 lives, including 37 in America, and sent global markets into a tailspin.
Addressing to the nation in a television channel from his Oval Office in the White House on Wednesday, President Trump said that the new restrictions will come into effect from Friday midnight and there will be exemptions for Americans returning to the US after undergoing multiple screenings.
“To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,” the US president further added.
Trump said the European Union had “failed to take the same precautions” as his administration had implemented to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Giving details of the travel ban, Department of Homeland Security in a statement said Trump signed a Presidential proclamation, which suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the US.
These countries, known as the Schengen area, include Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The president said he was monitoring the situation in China and South Korea, and asked citizens to suspend all non-essential travels. He urged them to adopt the best hygiene, wash their hands and stay away from large gatherings to reduce the chance of infection.
“This is not a financial crisis. This is just a temporary moment in time that we will overcome as a nation and a world,” Trump said.
According to the World Health Organization report, the death toll due to the novel coronavirus outside the Chinese mainland, the epicentre of the outbreak, has increased to 1,130.
The new toll as of Wednesday morning was an increase of 258 deaths from the previous day.
Over 110 countries and regions have reported 118,326 confirmed cases, including 37,371 cases outside China.
On Wednesday, WHO said that the COVID-19 outbreak can be characterized as a “pandemic” as the virus spreads increasingly worldwide.
Earlier in the day, Japan cancelled several prayer meetings to mark the ninth anniversary of a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami in wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
On Tuesday, Japan had 59 new cases of coronavirus infection and the total infections have risen to 1,278 cases, including 696 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
According to the reports, six people have died in Britain from the virus, with more than 370 confirmed cases.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak will on Wednesday unveil the government’s first post-Brexit budget, with all eyes on emergency government measures to ease the economic pain from the coronavirus outbreak.
On Wednesday, UK MP Nadine Dorries, a minister in the health department has tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about whether senior government figures have been infected.
More than 4,000 people have died and over 110,000 have been infected worldwide, with the majority in China, though daily infections are now growing at a much faster pace abroad.
The novel Coronavirus outbreak has caused alarm as it has crossed global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.
(With inputs from agency)