The new US travel restrictions, designed to curb the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, will come into effect on Friday at midnight said Trump in a televised address. The measures will not apply to US citizens and members of their family.
Foreign nationals, though, from any of the 26 countries in Europe’s Schengen area are now effectively banned from travelling to the US. The restrictions will remain in place for an initial 30 days.
Trump described the measures as “strong but necessary”. It is unclear at this stage why the UK and Ireland have been excluded; the UK currently has 459 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and Ireland 43 – significantly more than several of the nations whose nationals have been banned from travelling to the US.
The Foreign Office is yet to issue any updated travel advice, but it notes around 3.8 million British nationals visit the US every year.
The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a statement that the order “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 United States”.
Chad Wolf, the department’s acting secretary, said the move “will keep Americans safe and save American lives”.
“While these new travel restrictions will be disruptive to some travellers, this decisive action is needed to protect the American public from further exposure to the potentially deadly coronavirus,” he added.
Roger Dow, president and chief executive of the US Travel Association, said the move would exacerbate the already “heavy impact” of the Covid-19 coronavirus on the US travel industry.
According to the association, 850,000 visitors – excluding the UK – flew to the US last March, accounting for 29% of total overseas arrivals and spending approximately $3.4 billion.
