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#Coronavirus - 'All travel from Europe, except for the United Kingdom, will be suspended' Trump 

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US President Donald Trump made an address from the Oval Office of the White House on his administration’s response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (11 March). Trump announced that all travel from Europe, except for the United Kingdom, will be suspended for at least a month from midnight on Friday (13 March); he described the measures as “strong but necessary”. 

Trump said that because he had taken early action the United States had seen fewer cases of the virus than in Europe: “The European Union failed to take the same precautions [as the US] and restrict travel from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe.” Trump mistakenly added that the prohibitions would also apply to cargo – that has been corrected. 

He also signed a Presidential Proclamation, in which non-US citizens who had been in any Schengen country over the last 14 days would be refused entry to the United States. The affected European countries include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This excludes Romania, Bulgaria, Ireland and the UK. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf said: “The actions President Trump is taking to deny entry to foreign nationals who have been in affected areas will keep Americans safe and save American lives.” The proclamation does not apply to legal permanent residents and their immediate family members.  Wolf added that US passengers that have been in the Schengen Area will have to travel through select airports where the government has “enhanced screening procedures”. 

The White House coronavirus task force stated earlier in the week that initial problems created by a faulty testing kit distributed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been overcome. The levels of testing appear to be very low indeed compared to other countries. Testing has proved critical in managing the epidemic. According to the CDC site there have been 938 cases and a total of 29 deaths so far. This differs from the figures on the EU’s agency the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which gives a figure of 1,025 cases.  

UPDATE

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The European Commission and European Council issued a joint statement on the U.S. travel ban:  

“The Coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action. 

“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to approve a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation. 

“The European Union is taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.” 

 

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