U.S. President Donald Trump says he will suspend all travel from Europe to the United States for 30 days, effective Friday at midnight, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is suspending all travel from Europe to the U.S. for 30 days, beginning Friday at midnight, as he seeks to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump made the announcement in an Oval Office address to the nation, blaming the European Union for not acting quickly enough to address the coronavirus and saying U.S. clusters were “seeded” by European travellers.
“We made a life-saving move with early action on China,” Trump said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.”
Trump said the restrictions won’t apply to the United Kingdom and that the U.S. will monitor the situation to determine if travel could be reopened earlier.
Calling his move an “unprecedented response,” Trump said he was marshalling the full power of the government “to protect the American people.”
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said Canada won’t follow suit.
“We will continue to base our decisions in Canada on science and the best advice from our Public Heath Agency,” the statement said.
‘Not a financial crisis’
Among other measures announced, Trump said he was also directing agencies to provide unspecified financial relief “for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus,” and asked the U.S. Congress to take action to extend it.
Trump said the U.S. will defer tax payments for some individual and business filers for three months to lessen the impacts of the virus outbreak. H