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The United States will not be lifting its travel bans any time soon.

The country has since expanded restrictions to include non-U.S. citizens who recently visited Brazil, Ireland, India, Iran, South Africa, United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), and the Schengen area in Europe (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, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City).

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The decision to maintain the travel bans comes a month after President Biden announced in a White House press release that the U.S. would be launchinginteragency groupswith the European Union, Britain, Canada and Mexico to analyze the best ways to eventually lift travel restrictions.

However, decisions have been centered on the Delta variant, which is rapidly spreading throughout the United States, especially among those who are not vaccinated.According to new datafrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highly contagious strain is now the most common form of theCOVID-19 viruscirculating in the U.S., accounting for 83% of cases nationwide.

While the White House has not released any details for when any restrictions will be eased, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during apress briefing Friday, “We rely on public health and medical advice on when we’re going to determine changes to be made.”

To check the latest travel requirements for any country, visitthe State Department website.

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source: people.com