United States Imposes Travel Restrictions On Brazil As Preventive Step To Curb Rise Of COVID-19 Infections In US

"Today, the President has taken decisive action to protect our country by suspending the entry of aliens who have been in Brazil during the 14-day period before seeking admittance to the United States," the White House said in a statement

In a major step taken by the United States to prevent and curb the further onslaught of the COVID-19 infections in America, US President Donald Trump imposed travel restriction on Brazil, which has become the nation with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases. "Today, the President has taken decisive action to protect our country by suspending the entry of aliens who have been in Brazil during the 14-day period before seeking admittance to the United States," the White House said in a statement, Xinhua reported. The statement said the action would "help ensure foreign nationals who have been in Brazil do not become a source of additional infections in our country," noting that this measure would not apply to the flow of commerce between the two countries.

McEnany said that the action will help ensure foreign nationals, who have been in Brazil, do not become a source of additional infections in the United States.

"These new restrictions do not apply to the flow of commerce between the United States and Brazil," she said.

Last week, Trump told reporters that his administration was considering to suspend travel from Brazil, which has reported more than 22,500 deaths due to the coronavirus.

Brazil has surpassed Russia as the country with the second-highest reported coronavirus cases in the world on Friday, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday, Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has recorded 347,398 virus cases.