Coronavirus: Trump Suspends All Travel From Europe For 30 Days

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that travel from Europe to the United States will be suspended for 30 days to stem the epidemic of new coronavirus, which has further distressed financial markets.

“I have decided to take strong, but necessary actions to protect the health and well-being of all Americans,” Trump said in a formal address from the White House Oval Office.

“To prevent new cases from entering our country, I will suspend all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,” he added, regretting that the European Union does not did not take “the same precautions” as the United States faced with the spread of the virus.

This measure, which will come into force Friday at midnight, will not affect the United Kingdom, said the Republican billionaire.

During his ten-minute speech, the president of the world’s leading power described the new coronavirus as a “foreign virus”.

A few days ago, the American chief of diplomacy Mike Pompeo had caused a controversy, and the ire of Beijing, while speaking about “virus of Wuhan”.

The 45th President of the United States concluded his speech by hammering out his conviction that the future of the United States remains “brighter than anyone can imagine.”

The American president is accused by a number of elected democrats of wanting to minimize at all costs the scale of the health crisis to come and to send confused messages, sometimes in contradiction with those of the health authorities.

“It will disappear, stay calm,” he said on Tuesday. “Everything is going well. A lot of good things are going to take place. ”

Europe is the new China

Trump also called on the U.S. Congress to quickly pass wage tax cuts to help American households weather the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

This proposal made by his administration at the beginning of the week did not have a very favorable response with elected officials, including his own party.

The president also announced the postponement of the deadline for paying taxes for certain individuals and businesses, which he believes will allow $ 200 billion in additional cash to be injected into the economy.

Wall Street had another dark session Wednesday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average collapsed by 5.87% to 23,550.74 points, and the Nasdaq lost 4.70% to 7,952.05 points.

A few hours before the presidential address, the director of the Centers for Disease Detection and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield had estimated that the main risk of spread of the epidemic for the United States came from Europe.

“The real threat to us is now Europe,” he said. “That’s where the cases come from. To put it plainly, Europe is the new China. ”

In early February, Washington provisionally barred non-Americans who recently visited China from entering the United States. President Trump has long invoked this drastic decision to ensure that the spread of the epidemic was under control in the United States.

The State Department also recommended that American nationals avoid unnecessary trips to Italy, a warning to travelers that could be at least partially extended to the rest of Europe.

The United States surpassed the 1,200 cases of infection with the new coronavirus on Wednesday, and 38 people died, according to statistics from the American University Johns Hopkins.