Rejecting the outgoing President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding the lifting of the ban on passengers coming in from the regions of Brazil and Europe, President-elect Joe Biden’s spokesperson said that the restrictions will remain in place, highlighting the new cabinet’s interest in following the medical guidelines and advice.
The contrasting opinionated statements came when there were hardly 48 hours left for the incoming administration to take their formal responsibilities with the inauguration in the US capital, Washington, DC.
The sudden transition and difference in announcements also underline the change in power in the country.
Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki’s tweet of Monday read, “On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26.”
“In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
She pointed to the grievous situation of the world where the virus is only spreading its wings with no signs of flattening the curve in terms of the number of cases. As such she added, “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 had approved for the suspensions on European and Brazilian travelers to be lifted next week. The restrictions had come into effect in mid-March last year with the agreement and support of the covid-19 task force and public health officials.
Trump’s new order will remain effective, meaning that the restrictions will be removed on the same day scheduled unless Biden makes a move.
Under the new rules, every international visitor needs to furnish a negative covid-19 test report before entering the US.
The suspension disallowed non-US citizens who remained in the UK, Brazil, Ireland, and Europe (the 26 countries of the Schengen region) from crossing the borders of America as they were permitted to travel within those countries freely, given the open borders, during the last 14 days.
Since the entry was barred, Brazil and the United Kingdom reported new variants of the coronavirus, which are much more contagious than the older strain.
The outgoing President remained firm on his stance to not allow the Biden administration to get access to the funds and other resources that come along with the position. He also termed the elections as fraud and denied accepting the result where he lost due to a lesser number of votes in the November 3rd elections.
Defying the historical tradition, Trump has also not met the incoming President. Moreover, he is on the way to become the first President for the past 152 years to remain absent in the new President’s inauguration ceremony.
The US continues to be the country with the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths due to the disease. It has reported over 24 million cases with close to 400,000 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.
