PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- President Joe Biden will be re-imposing a COVID-19 travel ban that former President Donald Trump lifted a few days before leaving office. An announcement is expected on Monday.
The restrictions, according to several news outlets and first reported by Reuters, will once again apply to all non-American travelers who would re-enter the United States from Brazil, the U.K., and 26 European countries. The reversal comes a week after Trump signed an order that would have eased the restrictions as of Jan. 26.
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"I agree with (then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar) that this action is the best way to continue protecting Americans from COVID-19 while enabling trade to resume safety," Trump wrote.
When word got out that the ban would be lifted, Biden's then-spokeswoman and current White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, was quick to respond.
She tweeted, “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. With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel."
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, on CBS' "Face the Nation," said the U.K. variant is more concerning now because health officials there say their studies show it’s actually deadlier than first expected.
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"So we need to assume now that what has been circulating dominantly in the U.K. does have a certain degree of increase in what we call virulence, namely the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death," Fauci said.
"We want to look at the data ourselves, but we have every reason to believe them. They’re a very competent group."
The president, according to several reports, is also expected to add travelers from South Africa to the list, because of a very contagious strain that has been circulating there.