Joe Biden rejects Donald Trump’s order to lift Covid travel ban on UK and Europe

Joe Biden has said the US will maintain Covid travel bans on the UK, Europe and Brazil despite Donald Trump’s order to lift them.

Mr Trump reportedly said on Monday that the entry ban would end on 26 January - six days after Mr Biden takes office on Wednesday.

But Mr Biden's spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, quickly responded with a statement on Twitter that this would not be the case.

"On the advice of our medical team, the administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26," Ms Psaki tweeted.

"In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of Covid-19."

The restrictions Mr Trump planned to lift have barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens who within the last 14 days have been in Brazil, the UK, Ireland and much of Europe.

Most have been in place since mid-March when Mr Trump signed proclamations imposing them, while the Brazilian entry ban was imposed in May.

Many administration officials for months argued the restrictions no longer made sense given most countries were not subject to the entry bans.

Others have argued the United States should not drop entry bans since many European countries still block most US citizens.

It was previously reported the White House was not considering lifting entry bans on most non-US citizens who have recently been in China or Iran.