US President-elect Joe Biden has moved to dismiss a new White House decree on Covid travel rules, as Donald Trump enters his final full day in office, the BBC reports.
In one of his last orders, Mr Trump had tried to end travel bans for visitors from much of Europe and Brazil.
Mr Biden’s spokeswoman said now was not the time to be easing travel measures.
Joe Biden will take office at 12:00 (17:00 GMT) on Wednesday. However, much of the spotlight is on Mr Trump’s final moves.
The US imposed travel restrictions on Europe last March and the Brazilian entry ban was put in place in May, but the White House decreed on Monday that the entry ban would end on 26 January, six days after Mr Biden takes office.
Just minutes later, Mr Biden’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said on Twitter: “On the advice of our medical team, the administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on January 26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of Covid-19.”
She said that with “more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel”.
