Donald Trump promises to lift flight restrictions for travellers from the UK next week – but it takes Joe Biden just minutes to say: ‘It ain’t happening’
- Joe Biden dashed Donald Trump’s plan to lift UK travel ban from January 26
- US imposed restrictions on UK travellers in mid-March to contain pandemic
- President-elect Biden said: ‘Now is not the time to be lifting travel restrictions’
Joe Biden last night torpedoed Donald Trump’s last-ditch attempt to lift the Covid travel ban on non-US citizens flying from Britain, announcing instead they would strengthen border controls.
President Trump, who is due to leave office on Wednesday, had planned to rescind the curbs imposed in mid-March in one of his last acts before he is succeeded by President-elect Biden.
Covid-19 entry restrictions have barred nearly all non-US citizens who within the last 14 days have been in the UK, Ireland and the 26 countries of the EU Schengen area that allow travel across open borders.
But the President’s bid to open up Anglo-US air travel and boost the aviation industry was thwarted by President-elect Biden’s team.
Incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki declared: ‘With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel.
‘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.’
Joe Biden last night torpedoed Donald Trump’s last-ditch attempt to lift the Covid travel ban on non-US citizens flying from Britain
Travellers in the international arrival area of Heathrow Airport, near London
Aircraft grounded due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including planes operated by British Airways, are pictured on the apron at London Gatwick Airport
New coronavirus variants have been detected in both the UK and Brazil in recent weeks.
Last week, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed an order requiring nearly all air travellers to present a negative test or proof of recovery from Covid-19 to enter the US starting on January 26.
Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s global migration and quarantine division, told Reuters those entry bans were an ‘opening act strategy’ to address the virus spread and should now be ‘actively reconsidered’.
Airlines had hoped the new testing requirements would clear the way for the administration to lift the restrictions that reduced travel from some European countries by 95 per cent or more.
They had pressed senior White House officials about the issue in recent days.
Passengers pictured at JFK Airport in New York last month. Restrictions on travelers from Europe have been in place since mid-March; the Brazilian entry ban was imposed in May. The Trump administration imposed the bans in a bid to contain the coronavirus pandemic
Travellers in the international arrival area of Heathrow Airport, near London on Monday
Many administration officials for months argued the restrictions no longer made sense given most countries were not subject to the entry bans.
Others have argued the United States should not drop entry bans since many European countries still block most US citizens.
Reuters previously reported the White House was not considering lifting entry bans on most non-US citizens who have recently been in China or Iran.
The UK’s Covid strain, B117, has resulted in the country being forced back into strict lockdowns. The CDC has already warned it could become dominant in the US by March, triggering massive surges in cases.
The US government suspended incoming travel from the Schengen area in Europe on March 13, and extended the ban to include the UK and Ireland the next day.