Donald Trump has announced he will temporarily suspend immigration to the US due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The US president wrote on Twitter immigration he will sign an executive order due to the “attack by the invisible enemy”, and to protect jobs.
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
He didn’t give details and it was not immediately clear how his decision would work in practice, as the country continues to face divisions over how to handle the coronavirus outbreak that has so far left more than 42,000 people dead in the US.
The announcement comes amid more hopeful signs in Europe, where Italy recorded fewer current COVID-19 cases for the first time on Monday.
Europe’s worst-affected country, where more than 24,000 have died, registered 108,237 cases yesterday – twenty fewer than the day before.
Other countries in Europe started easing their lockdown restrictions this week, although looking at the global outlook, the World Health Organization chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus did warn the “worst is yet ahead of us” in the outbreak.
WHO warns against reopening economies too soon
