Trump halts travel from Europe to US

 

 

Flights from 26 countries, not including the UK to be suspended amid the coronavirus outbreak for 30 days starting from Friday midnight. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.

There are 1,1 35 confirmed cases of the virus across the US with 38 deaths so far.

Mr. Trump said the European Union had “failed to take the same precautions” as the US in fighting the virus.

A presidential proclamation, published shortly after Mr. Trump’s speech specified that the ban applied to anyone who had been in the EU’s Schengen border-free area in the 14 days before their arrival in the US.

The Schengen area as defined in the proclamation includes 26 European states but does not include the UK or Ireland which will not be subject to the ban affecting over 5220 flights and 1.4m seats over 30 days.

Mr. Trump also initially said the travel suspension would also apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo coming from Europe to the US which he later tweeted to say that trade would “in no way be affected”.

He also announced plans to provide billions of dollars on loans to small businesses and urged Congress to pass major tax relief measures in an attempt to stymie the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy.

UK coronavirus related death rises to 10m with over 590 cases as the government prepares to step up its response to the virus.

Schools, colleges and other public facilities in the Republic of Ireland are to close in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak until 29 March.

In Italy death toll rises to 827 with over 12, 000 confirmed cases reported.

In France, there had been 48 deaths with over 2281 confirmed cases.

In China 80, 754 confirmed cases and 3136 deaths.

In South Korea 66 deaths and 7869 confirmed cases.

The Oscar-winning actor, Tom Hanks(63) who has been in Australia filming an Elvis Presley biopic has announced that he and his wife, Rita Wilson have been diagnosed with coronavirus. He said he felt as though he had a cold, while Wilson, also 63 suffered chills.

FTSW100, DOW and S&P 500 all had worst day since 1987, the third worst on record after the this Monday was the fifth worst The main European markets also closed down nearly 12 per ent.