UK advises against 'all but essential travel' to US amid coronavirus scare

The British Foreign Office announced on March 15 that it is now advising against “all but essential travel” to the United States as the unprecedented outbreak of coronavirus continues to force countries to take precautionary measures. This also came in the light of travel restrictions placed by the US government on visitors from the UK. 

Even though initially, Britain was excluded from the travel restrictions introduced by the United States, its Vice President Mike Pence announced on March 14 that all travel from the UK and Ireland will also be suspended effective from March 16 (local time). Both UK and the US have reported 1,140 and 3,083 confirmed cases of coronavirus respectively. And while US has witnessed 60 deaths, UK's death toll remains at 21. 

The UK Foreign Office said in a statement, “The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the USA, due to restrictions put in place by the US government with effect from 03:59 GMT 17 March in response to the outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19)”

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It added, “British travellers currently in the USA will be allowed to leave. The new US travel restrictions are likely to affect commercial flight schedules to the UK and we recommend that British travellers who wish to leave by air make appropriate arrangements to ensure their travel plans can be met.”

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Global pandemic 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus as a global pandemic after the virus spread to more than 156 countries, resulting in the deaths of more than 6,000 people worldwide. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom further even urged all nations to get very serious over the issue and take all necessary measures to contain the virus from spreading at this rate. Tedros said, that the word 'Pandemic' cannot be used lightly or carelessly due to its strong connotation. 

However, Tedros also said that the coronavirus outbreak is a "controllable pandemic". According to a statement released by the World Health Organisation, Tedros outlined two main reasons as to why the decision was taken to describe the epidemic as a pandemic. Tedros said that one reason was the speed and scale of transmission and the others was because 'countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it'.

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