The United States leaves travel restrictions to enter the country in force due to the increase in cases of covid-19

A woman walks with a mask in New York on July 22. BRENDAN MCDERMID / Reuters

The Joe Biden Administration has decided to keep existing restrictions in place for those who want to travel to the United States amid the increase in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, according to

. "At least for the moment," the news agency quotes a White House source, it will continue to be prohibited to enter the US for those who are not US citizens and have spent the last 14 days in any of the 26 countries of the United States. European Union that belong to the Schengen area, Ireland, United Kingdom, China, India, South Africa, Iran or Brazil.

In mid-July, President Biden said during a press conference at the White House, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that the ban imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic would be lifted soon, after more than 16 months in vigor. It is therefore unknown when the end of the veto will be.

The Biden Administration is under great pressure, both from the tourism industry and its political allies, to end restrictions on entering the country and to regain the flow of people. White House sources assured

that the official decision had been taken due to the rapid expansion of the Delta variant, both in the United States and in the rest of the world, and the worrying increase in cases in the North American country, an increase that points to to continue "growing in the coming weeks."

The number of new cases in the US has recently risen 70%, raising the daily average from about 16,000 positives to more than 26,000.

To the regret of President Biden, less than half of US citizens (although 59% of adults) have the full vaccination schedule.

To date, the country has recorded more than 34 million infections since the start of the pandemic, of which about 606,000 have resulted in death.

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