WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States was considering having passengers on international flights from coronavirus hot spots be tested for the virus.
“We’re looking at doing it on the international flights coming out of areas that are heavily infected,” Trump said at a White House event. He said his administration was working with airlines on the plan, which could happen “in the very near future.”
He said Brazil was one of the countries “getting to that category” of being a hot spot.
Earlier this year, passengers from China were screened at U.S. airports after landing in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Only a handful of passengers were quarantined.
“I did it with China, I did it with Europe — that’s a very big thing to do. It’s certainly a very big thing to do to Florida, because you have so much business from South America,” Trump said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Eric Beech; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
