Biden administration will not lift travel bans

US President-elect Joe Biden's spokeswoman has dismissed Donald Trump's announcement Monday that a Covid-19 ban on travelers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted, underlining the fractious transition of power. "On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26," tweeted Jen Psaki, Biden's press secretary."In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19."

"With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel," she added. Both statements come days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that all air passengers bound for the US are required to test negative for Covid-19 within three days of their departure.Biden will be inaugurated on Wednesday, after a rocky handover of power. As of Monday, the US had recorded more than 24 million cases of Covid-19, with nearly 400,000 deaths.