Donald Trump suspends ALL flights to US from Europe except UK and Ireland for next 30 days due to coronavirus
DONALD Trump took the unprecedented step to suspend ALL flights from nearly all of Europe to the US for next 30 days due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a drastic move, the United States will bar entry from 26 European countries, except the UK and Ireland, for a month - as cases in the US exceed 1,200 with at least 37 deaths.
made the announcement as he delivered a rare prime-time Oval Office address on the federal response to the pandemic on Wednesday - amid fears it could , according to WHO forecasts.
The President said the European Union "failed to take the same precautions" as the US before announcing the travel restrictions - which will go into effect on Friday at 12am.
He singled out the UK as an exemption to the ban - but there was confusion as a later statement from the Department of Homeland Security said only countries in the Shengen area of free movement would be barred, therefore meaning Ireland was also exempt.
WHAT IS THE SCHENGEN ZONE?
The Schengen Area is the term given to the 26 European states which allow passport-free travel through their borders.
The 26 countries that are currently members of the Schengen Agreement are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
It has a population of over 400million people and an area of around 1.6million-square-miles.
Schengen borders are crossed an estimated 1.3billion times every year.
The UK opted out of the Schengen Agreement arguing that, as an island, its controls were a more effective way of preventing illegal immigration.
The DHS clarified that the travel restrictions would not impose a total travel ban on all of Europe or all US citizens.
Speaking about the travel proclamation, DHS Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf said: "The actions President Trump is taking to deny entry to foreign nationals who have been in affected areas will keep Americans safe and save American lives.
"I applaud the president for making this tough but necessary decision.
Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of the US Congress, told staffers at a closed-door meeting as many as 70-150 million people in the country could contract the virus, reported.
Confirmed cases on American soil surged to well over 1,000 this week - with at least 37 coronavirus-related deaths in four states after California announced its fourth fatality on Wednesday.
They are watching the situation in Europe and are very worried - not just about Italy but France, Spain and Germany.
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On Tuesday, reported that The Council of Foreign Relations even axed a coronavirus roundtable scheduled for Friday in due to the quick-spreading infection.
Several schools in New York have also shut down due to the coronavirus, most recently and the , both of which have at least one student who has tested positive for COVID-19.
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