Trump’s travel ban will not stop coronavirus spreading:WHO

Trump’s European travel ban will do little to help the US combat coronavirus and may actually help the disease spread by giving people a false sense of security, a top doctor has warned.   
Margaret Harris, with the World Health Organisation, said that while travel bans are useful in the early stages of an outbreak, they are of little use when the disease starts spreading freely within communities - as it has in the US.   

Rather than focus efforts on closing borders, she urged countries including the US to stop the spread within their own borders by rapidly testing people for the virus and ensuring they get appropriate treatment.   

Meanwhile the EU Commission said it ‘disapproved’ of Trump’s decision, which was taken without consultation leading to confusion over how it would be implemented.   

European leaders stressed that cooperation rather than unilateral action is needed to combat a global pandemic.   

The UK, which was given an exemption from the ban alongside Ireland, said that there is little evidence to support the theory that travel bans are effective against pandemics.   

EU Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted that the coronavirus pandemic is a ‘global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action.’   

Their sentiment was echoed by Dr Harris, who said the WHO disapproves of travel bans because it causes countries to focus their efforts on the 
wrong things.   
(Daily Mail), 12 March 2020