The White House announced that beginning at 11:59 pm ET on Thursday, President Trump would suspend entry of non-U.S. citizens who have been in Brazil in the past 14 days in an effort to stop the imported spread of the coronavirus.
Why it matters: Brazil has reported nearly 350,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus — the second-most in the world behind the U.S. — and has emerged as a Southern Hemisphere hotspot as other heavily affected countries in Asia and Europe have managed to get their outbreaks under control.
- However, there continues to be significant community spread of the virus within the U.S., which will not be curbed by further outside travel restrictions.
The big picture: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has come under fire for dismissing the virus as a “little flu” and aggressively pushing to reopen the economy, which is heading for its worst recession ever.
- On Sunday, a mask-less Bolsonaro attended a rally in Brasilia, shaking hands, embracing supporters and ignoring social distancing measures as coronavirus cases continued to surge. Continue reading.
Trump praised Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, after he rejected millions of dollars in international aid pledged to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest.
