NEW YORK (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would issue a travel advisory in the New York area hard hit by the spread of the Corona virus, with the aim of curbing the outbreak, reversing a previous proposal that he might seek to close the entire region.
“Quarantine will not be necessary,” Trump said on Twitter.
The president’s announcement came as the number of deaths in the United States due to the virus exceeded 2,100, more than twice the number two days ago.
The United States has recorded 122,000 cases of coronavirus so far, the largest number of infections in one country.
Trump had said Saturday afternoon that he might ban travel to or from New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, a region that is the epicenter of the virus outbreak in the United States, with the aim of protecting other states not severely affected by the disease.
The plan was immediately criticized as impractical and would cause chaos in a region that is the economic engine of the eastern United States and includes ten percent of the population and generates 12 percent of GDP.
But after hours he gave up the idea and said he would instead ask the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a “strong travel warning” led by New York, New Jersey and Connecticut rulers.
The centers later warned residents of the three states against unnecessary domestic travel for 14 days.
She said the warning does not apply to employees of “sensitive infrastructure sectors” including public health and financial services.