Coronavirus outbreak: US declares public health emergency, bars foreign nationals who visited China from entering country
FirstpostUS citizens who have travelled within past two weeks to China’s Hubei will be subject to mandatory quarantine of 14 days Washington: The Trump administration, while insisting the risk to Americans from coronavirus is low, nevertheless declared a public health emergency on Friday and announced the extraordinary step of barring entry to the United States of foreign nationals who have recently visited China. In addition, US citizens who have travelled within the past two weeks to China’s Hubei Province, epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, will be subject to a mandatory quarantine of 14 days, the incubation period of the virus, officials said. Keeping risk low CDC Director Robert Redfield told reporters the US government acted after the World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency on Thursday over the spread of the respiratory disease. The ban on US entry of foreign nationals who have traveled to China during the past 14 days would exempt immediate family of US citizens and permanent US residents, Azar said.