Ireland and Britain have been added to the US travel ban, with the new restrictions taking effect at 4am Tuesday (midnight United States time).
Speaking in the White House, vice-president Mike Pence announced the decision to expand the list, after US president Donald Trump implied at a press conference on Friday that he could do so.
Mr Trump also confirmed that he had been tested for coronavirus, as he took to the podium at the White House press room in Washington.
Acting homeland security chief Chad Wolf said the president had “made the decision due to the rising number of cases in the UK to apply these restrictions to both the UK and Ireland, so as we move forward again, these restrictions bar travel for certain foreign nationals who have been present in the UK or Ireland in the past 14 days”.
He added: “To be clear, the president’s proclamation and these travel restrictions do not apply to US citizens.”
An official also took the temperatures of reporters in the press room just prior to the press conference, according to those in the room.
“Out of an abundance of caution, temperature checks are now being performed on any individuals who are in close contact with the president and vice-president” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
US president Donald Trump had warned that Britain “and a couple of other” countries could be added to America’s travel ban list, noting the rise in cases in Britain in recent days on Friday afternoon. Asked why he had decided to omit the country from the original travel ban announced on Wednesday, given that several Schengen countries have fewer cases than the UK, Mr Trump replied that he had been advised to do so by experts. However, he said he could change this position, add some countries and remove others from the list. “We’ll be taking another look at that, absolutely,” he said.
On Wednesday, the president announced a curb on travel restrictions from Europe to America that were scheduled to go into effect last night. The announcement took European countries by surprise, and it later emerged that non-Schengen countries, like Britain and Ireland, were not included.
The new development emerged as Mr Trump declared a state of emergency in the United States, as the number of cases of coronavirus continued to rise and criticism mounted over the lack of adequate testing in the country.
