Biden to sign order keeping travel restrictions on Europe, says White House

US President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation later in the day to keep travel restrictions for Europe and Brazil over COVID-19 concerns, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki informed reporters here on Monday.

"Today, the President will sign a presidential proclamation to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through travel, especially as we see faster spreading variants emerging across the world," the White House spokesperson said.

"President Biden has decided to maintain the restrictions previously in place for the European Shenzhen area, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Brazil... And in light of the contagious variant B1351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list."

She said beginning Tuesday international travellers coming into the US must provide proof of a negative test within three days of travel to airlines prior to departure.

Noting the danger posed by the pandemic, the proclamation said, "The Federal Government must act swiftly and aggressively to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The national emergency caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States continues to pose a grave threat to our health and security."

Last week, Biden had announced that travellers flying to the US from foreign countries will be required to mandatorily quarantine upon their arrival and pass a COVID-19 test before departure.

Prior to this, he had mandated wearing face masks and observing social distancing on government property, urging "every American to mask up for the next 100 days."

The new administration has also predicted that the US death toll will top 500,000 next month from its current count of nearly 419,000, adding that wearing masks is the "the single best thing we can do.