US President Donald Trump has announced a 30-day suspension of travel from Europe as part of an initiative to address the coronavirus outbreak.
President Trump said that the new travel suspension from Europe will only apply to the 26 countries in the Schengen border-free travel area. He said the "strong but necessary" restrictions will not affect the UK, which has 460 cases of the virus.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said: "To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight."
The travel restrictions will not apply to US citizens. Currently, there are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus in the country, including 38 deaths.
Trump claimed that the European Union had "failed to take the same precautions" as the US in fighting the virus. Countries in the EU that are not covered by the travel suspension include Ireland, Bulgaria, and Switzerland.
The president's announcement was made several hours after Italy decided to implement a nationwide lockdown, which involved closing all shops except food stores and pharmacies.
Trump initially said that the suspension would also "apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo" coming from Europe into the US but later tweeted that "trade will in no way be affected" by the new measures.
He also announced plans to provide billions of dollars in loans to small businesses and called on Congress to pass major tax relief measures to dampen the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy.
Trump said: "We are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people."
Meanwhile, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that it will suspend the season after one player from the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus. Award-winning actor Tom Hanks also announced that he and his wife contracted the virus in Australia.
