Biden administration says won’t lift travel bans on Brazil and Europe despite Trump statement

US President-elect Joe Biden's spokeswoman quickly dismissed Donald Trump's announcement Monday that a COVID-19 ban on travelers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted, underlining the fractious transition of power, reported AFP.

"On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26," tweeted Jen Psaki, Joe Biden's press secretary.

"In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19."

"With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel," she added.

Earlier, Outgoing US President Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order to lift travel restrictions on European countries and Brazil which his administration had imposed in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

Travel restrictions on several other countries including China and Iran remain in place.

In an executive order, Trump said he is removing the restrictions applicable to the European Union, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Brazil, while leaving in place the restrictions applicable to China and Iran.

A decision in this regard, he said, is being taken after the January 12 directive of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requiring proof of a negative COVID-19 test or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 for all air passengers arriving from a foreign country to the United States.

Trump said that European Union, Britain, Ireland and Brazil will cooperate with the US in the implementation of CDC's January 12, 2021, order and that tests administered there will yield accurate results.

However, the same cannot be said of China and Iran. Those jurisdictions' responses to the pandemic, their lack of transparency, and their lack of cooperation with the United States thus far in combatting the pandemic, cast doubt on their cooperation in implementing CDC's January 12, 2021, order, Trump said.

The previous travel restrictions were announced on March 14 and May 24 of last year.