Coronavirus: Trump Places Travel Ban On Europe

The United States President, Donald Trump, on Wednesday, placed a travel ban on Europe in an attempt to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Speaking at the Oval Office, Trump banned "all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days."

However, the statement was later clarified to mean the ban will apply only to foreign nationals and not to American citizens who had been screened before entering the country.

He said: "We have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the United States than are now present in Europe.

"The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe.

"We are at a critical time in the fight against the virus. We made a life-saving move with early action on China. Now we must take the same action with Europe. We will not delay. I will never hesitate to take any necessary steps to protect the lives, health and safety of the American people. I will always put the well-being of America first."

The ban will affect Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had earlier on Wednesday declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.