US President Donald Trump said he would address travel restrictions to Europe in a statement later on Wednesday, hinting that decisions have been made involving Asia and Europe amid a fast-moving global coronavirus outbreak.
“We made a great decision on China and Asia. They’re healing and they’re healing at a pretty good rate. Happy about that,” Trump said. “And we could start to think about getting back involved in that part of the world.”
After a White House meeting with US banking industry leaders, Trump said he would also address economics and healthcare in the remarks at around 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT).
“As you know we have another part of the world – Europe -that’s in very tough shape. It’s having a hard time right now with the virus. And we’ll be making various decisions,” Trump said, refusing to elaborate.
Meanwhile, the US government is likely to discourage Americans from taking trips to Europe and might restrict people entering the United States from the continent to fight coronavirus, as a top health official warned on Wednesday the US outbreak will get worse.
President Donald Trump vowed he would use all government resources necessary to combat the virus, which has killed 32 people in America and ravaged Italy, China and other countries.
Wall Street stocks plunged due to worry about coronavirus,with the Dow Jones Industrial Average confirming a bear market for the first time in over a decade.
The market concern was compounded by a Reuters report that the White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified.
“I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump, who has downplayed the risks from coronavirus, said he would address economics and healthcare in remarks at around 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT).
Sources familiar with the matter said the White House was considering issuing advisories against Americans’ visiting Europe as well as potential new restrictions on travelers from some European nations entering the country.
