Donald Trump announced that the US would temporarily suspend most travel from the European Union, as the country reckons with the spread of coronavirus and the White House grapples with the severity of the situation. The restrictions, which would begin on Friday and last for 30 days, would not apply to the UK, he said. He also encouraged older Americans to avoid all travel if possible. Trump made the announcement in an Oval Office speech on Wednesday evening on the federal response to what the World Health Organization has declared a global pandemic. During the speech, Trump defended his administration’s response while laying blame on the European Union for not acting quickly enough to address the “foreign virus”, saying US clusters had been “seeded” by European travelers. Advertisement “We made a lifesaving move with early action on China,” he said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.” He also downplayed warnings of a potential recession: “This is not a financial crisis, this is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome as a nation and as a world,” he said. “The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low,” he added, but he said that older Americans should avoid travel and endorsed social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. “Every community faces different risks,” he noted and encouraged Americans to listen to local officials. The president also said he would take “emergency action” to provide relief to workers who are affected. He said he was asking Congress for $50bn for small business loans. He also called for “immediate” payroll tax cuts. Trump’s speech comes on a tumultuous day as cases in the US topped 1,000 and the number of deaths rose to 37, while fluctuations in the financial markets continued and Washington strained to respond. Testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that the outbreak in the US is going to get worse. “I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” Fauci told the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He said it is “10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu”. "A tweet can"t knock over a pandemic": has Trump met his match in coronavirus? Read more The acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, said that guidance on the travel suspension would come within the next two days, while issuing details on who would be affected. In a statement, DHS said the presidential proclamation “suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland”. DHS added that “this does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of US citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation”. Trump also sought to quell fears about the effect on trade, tweeting that “people not goods” would be included in the restriction. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Hoping to get the payroll tax cut approved by both Republicans and Democrats, and please remember, very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods. March 12, 2020 Daniel Drezner, a professor of International politics at Tuft University and a contributor to the Washington Post, said the European travel restrictionwas not likely to have a significant impact on the spread of the coronavirus in light of the fact that the virus is already here. The latest major Trump resignations and firings Read more “We’re long past containment. We’re in mitigation, and mitigation means dealing with the transmission of the virus here,” Drezner told the Guardian. Drezner said that restricting travel from China and other countries with high rates of coronavirus infection helped slow the spread of the disease, but he said those places had already imposed travel restrictions and the effects of limiting travel from Europe would “be a drop in the bucket” compared with the number of cases that are already in the US. “It seems to me that Stephen Miller was looking for a boogey-man and he found one in Europe,” he said, referring to Trump’s aide, who is an anti-immigration hardliner and reportedly played a key role in crafting the speech. Some on Twitter were quick to point out the conflicting messages between Trump, who has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the new coronavirus, and officials monitoring the disease. David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) After downplaying the problem, @realDonaldTrump starts out by saying he wants to speak about his administration’s “unprecedented response” to the Coronavirus pandemic. March 12, 2020 Yasmeen Abutaleb (@yabutaleb7) Trump says the risk to Americans is "very, very, very low." Today, Fauci said, "This is a really serious problem that we have to take seriously." March 12, 2020 Others questioned the logic of the European travel ban and framing the coronavirus as a foreign threat that the US has handled better than European countries. Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) Let me just say that suspending travel from Europe for 30 days makes very little sense. The issue is that the virus is spreading WITHIN THE US, undetected, because we have not created a functional testing system March 12, 2020 Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) . @realDonaldTrump said we are better than europe in terms of #Corona He cannot know that. We have not done adequate testing. You cannot compare test results if you do not administer tests. March 12, 2020 Advertisement Trump praised his administration’s response to the pandemic, after making cuts to the CDC and disbanding the team that monitored global pandemics. Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) While Trump is praising his response to the coronavirus in his Oval Office address, what he won"t say is that he: —Disbanded the NSC global pandemics team in 2018 —Made cuts to the CDC —Limited testing after rejecting WHO tests —Spread disinformation and undercut expert advice March 12, 2020 Trump’s announcement came as US cities took increasingly dramatic steps to stop the spread of the virus. In Washington DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency as the number of identified coronavirus cases in the nation’s capital reached 10, and officials recommended gatherings of 1,000 or more people be postponed or canceled. Seattle and San Francisco have also banned large gatherings. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. Elsewhere in the capital, the House speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled an economic assistance plan that was gaining bipartisan backing, with votes possible as soon as Thursday. The draft legislation would create a new federal emergency sick leave benefit for people with the virus or caring for a coronavirus victim. The package would also give states money for the newly jobless, and provide additional funding for food and nutrition benefits for pregnant women, mothers and young children. It also ups money for Meals on Wheels and food for low-income elderly people. “Right now we’re trying to deal with the direct impact of the virus on individual citizens,” John Yarmuth, the House budget committee chairman. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary whom Trump tapped to negotiate with the Democratic leader, urged Congress “to pass legislation quickly”.