Coronavirus, the United States bans flights from Europe
Well-being — di Andrea Barolini
The United States has decided to ban flights from Europe, with the exception of those arriving from the United Kingdom, in order to combat the coronavirus.
Coronavirus, the United States bans flights from Europe
The United States has decided to ban flights from Europe, with the exception of those arriving from the United Kingdom, in order to combat the coronavirus.
"Strong but necessary decisions must be taken to protect the health and wellbeing of all Americans. To avoid importing new cases of people infected with coronavirus, we are suspending all flights from Europe to the United States for 30 days." The announcement by US president Donald Trump came on the evening of Wednesday 11 March.
1,200 confirmed coronavirus cases and 38 deaths in the United States
Speaking from the White House, the head of the Washington government also attacked European nations, questioning why "the same precautions" had not been adopted by them earlier as well, in order to limit the spread of the epidemic. However, Trump himself explained that the measure applies to all nations that are part of the Schengen area and will not be applied to flights coming from the United Kingdom.
Coronavirus: Trump travel ban sidesteps UK and Ireland, where he owns golf resorts. bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…
Closing the borders may nevertheless be of limited use, given the fact that coronavirus is already present in the United States. There are indeed 1,200 confirmed cases in the country and 38 deaths. Despite this, in Donald Trump's rhetoric the virus has been branded as "foreign". This came after, a few days earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had spoken of the "Wuhan disease", provoking the anger of Beijing.
NBA season suspended, actor Tom Hanks also tests positive
Trump then downplayed the problem, explaining that "it will be resolved" and urging people to "stay calm" as "everything is under control". At the same time, however, he called on Congress to quickly adopt measures to reduce payroll taxes, in order to allow American families to withstand the economic impact of the epidemic. Some tax payments will also be deferred, including for businesses, which according to the American billionaire should allow "200 billion dollars of liquidity to be injected into the economic system".
Also on the evening of yesterday, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced the suspension of the season until further notice. This followed the discovery that a player had tested positive for coronavirus: the French centre for the Utah Jazz, Rudy Gobert. Actor Tom Hanks also announced that he had tested positive: he is in Australia, where he had travelled for preparations for the filming of a movie about the life of Elvis Presley.