MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2020) US President Donald Trump has temporarily banned foreigners from traveling to the United States if they had been to Brazil in the past 14 days, amid a rapid spread of the coronavirus in Latin America, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
The new travel ban will help ensure that no additional coronavirus infections are imported to the United States. The restrictions will not apply to the flow of commerce between the United States and Brazil, McEnany specified on Sunday.
"The potential for undetected transmission of the virus by infected individuals seeking to enter the United States from the Federative Republic of Brazil threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security, and I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the Federative Republic of Brazil during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States," Trump's Sunday proclamation on the suspension of entry says.
Brazil became the country with the second-largest number of coronavirus cases on Friday. Brazil's coronavirus death toll has been rising rapidly. About a week ago, there were over 15,000 coronavirus deaths registered in the country. On Saturday, Brazil's coronavirus death toll surpassed 22,000. The latest Health Ministry figures, released on Sunday, put the death toll at 22,666.
Filipe Martins, special advisor to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for international affairs, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the new US travel ban is a standard procedure, not aimed specifically against Brazil.
"By temporarily banning the entry of Brazilians into the US, the American government is following previously established quantitative parameters ... There is nothing specific against Brazil," Martins said.
There are now more than 363,200 confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil, according to the latest Sunday data from the country's health ministry. Meanwhile, the United States has the largest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (over 1.6 million) and the highest coronavirus death toll (over 97,500).
On Friday, Mike Ryan, the executive director of the emergencies program of the World Health Organization (WHO), called South America a new epicenter of the coronavirus infection, expressing specific concern for Brazil.
