VietJoy

The Trump administration may consider imposing a travel ban on Brazil as the South American country records a steep increase in coronavirus cases. 

In an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation”, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said he expects a decision Sunday on whether to block travel from Brazil as was done with China and some European countries earlier this year.

“We hope that will be temporary. But because of the situation in Brazil we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people,” he said.

In recent months, Washington banned non-citizens who had been in China 14 days prior to their arrival from entering the United States. The same restrictions were later placed on those traveling from Europe.

The United States remains the country with the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world – over 1,622,000.

The number of cases in Brazil has increased in recent weeks. As of Sunday, Brazil had over 347,000 confirmed cases, making it the second-highest affected in the world after the United States, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.