A new Trump administration ban announced Sunday for passengers coming to the US from Brazil won’t undermine “important” cooperation between the two countries, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said today.
In an email to CNN, the ministry emphasized examples of collaboration between the two countries to fight the virus and similar travel measures taken by Brazil to restrict travelers, including Americans.
“Brazil and the United States have maintained important bilateral cooperation to combat Covid-19,” the foreign ministry wrote, citing an announcement by White House representatives on Sunday to donate 1,000 respirators to Brazil.
The ministry also mentioned earlier announcements of US donations which they said were valued at about $6.5 million in support of Brazilian efforts to mitigate the health and socioeconomic impacts of the virus.
“The decision by the US government was based on technical criteria which take into account a combination of factors such as total number of cases, growth trends, travel volume, among others,” the ministry wrote.
“The US restriction has the same purpose as an analogous measure taken by Brazil regarding citizens of all origins, including Americans, and similar measures taken by a wide variety of countries.”
On March 27, Brazil barred all non-resident foreigners from entering the country by airplane due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Brazil had already closed all of its land borders and restricted entry to foreigners arriving from countries and regions with a high level of coronavirus infection.
