Mar 14, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Pence says European travel ban will extend to U.K. and Ireland

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a press briefing about the Coronavirus. Photo: JIM WATSON/ Getty Images

Vice President Mike Pence announced Saturday that all travel from Ireland and the United Kingdom to the U.S. will be suspended, effective midnight EST on Monday. He said Americans and legal residents abroad in those countries can return home.

Why it matters: The administration initially left the two off its restricted travel list, but that case has been weakened due to an uptick in cases in the UK.

Details: The travel restrictions do not apply to cargo or economic shipping, officials with the coronavirus task force said.

Flashback: President Trump announced earlier this week that European travel to the U.S. will be restricted for 30 days, with exemptions for Americans who undergo screening upon their return.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson "ruled out aggressive measures like school closings to fight the coronavirus" earlier this week, the New York Times reports.

By the numbers: The U.K. is currently reporting nearly 1,200 cases of COVID-19 — while the U.S. has 2,177 cases of the virus, per the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

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Mike Pence to local schools: It's OK to shut down over coronavirus

Vice President Mike Pence appears in a pre-taped interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" in Washington, D.C. Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC

President Trump would "respect any decisions that are made at the state and local level" on actions to combat the novel coronavirus, including school shutdowns, Vice President Mike Pence told NBC in an interview airing Sunday.

Why it matters: COVID-19 is a major challenge for the Trump administration, with 66 infections and one death from the virus in the U.S., per a CDC statement Saturday. A poor response could be "politically devastating" for them, Axios' Alayna Treene and Sam Baker note.

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World coronavirus updates: World Bank warns economic pain unavoidable

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

The novel coronavirus has caused a "global shock" and significant economic pain "seems unavoidable in all countries," the World Bank said in an economic update for
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The big picture: COVID-19 cases surged past 786,000 and the death toll exceeded 37,800 early Tuesday, per Johns Hopkins data. Italy reported more than 11,500 deaths.

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U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll tops 3,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus surpassed 3,000 late Monday.

The state of play: There were more than 164,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. early Tuesday — more than any other country in the world, per Johns Hopkins data. The COVID-19 death toll stood at 3,170. The number of recoveries had risen to more than 5,900.

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