This archive report was first published on 25 May 2020.
On May 24, 2020, US President Donald Trump suspended travel from Brazil, a country that has emerged as a major new hotspot in the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision, announced by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, affects non-Americans who have been in Brazil in the 14-day period prior to their attempt to enter the US.
According to McEnany, the move aims to prevent foreign nationals who have been in Brazil from becoming a source of additional infections in the US.
With over 360,000 confirmed cases, Brazil now has the second-biggest caseload in the world, after the United States, and has registered more than 22,000 deaths.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a political ally of Trump, has downplayed the health crisis, comparing the virus to a "little flu" and arguing that stay-at-home measures are unnecessarily hurting Latin America's largest economy.
However, the Brazilian government downplayed Trump's move, stating that it is identical to measures taken previously that suspended travel from other countries affected by Covid-19.
