Biden will not end the pandemic travel restrictions Trump is lifting

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden’s new White House press secretary says his government has no plans to lift coronavirus travel restrictions for Europe, the UK, Ireland and Brazil.

Jen Psaki’s message came Monday night after the White House said President Donald Trump had lifted restrictions on those countries effective Jan. 26.

Psaki then tweeted, “On the advice of our medical team, the government does not intend to lift these restrictions by January 26.”

She added, “We even plan to strengthen public health policies around international travel to further reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

Trump imposed travel restrictions early in the pandemic to slow the spread of the coronavirus to the US. They prevented most people from traveling to the US from affected regions without US citizenship or residency.