President Donald Trump has suspended travel from Europe to the United States for 30 days in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 that has surged the death toll globally.

However, this travel ban will not be extended to the travellers from the United Kingdom, according to foreign media.

Trump, during his address from the Oval Office, has stated that this measure will go into effect from midnight on Friday.

“This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history,” he has said.

He has also noted that the United States will continue to take “tough measures” to reduce the threat to its citizens and that the virus will be defeated “ultimately and expeditiously”.

The US President has called on the elderly people to avoid non-essential travels within the country, while announcing that he would be cancelling his trip to Nevada and Colorado tomorrow.

During his address, Trump blamed the European Union for failing to take precautions and restrict travel from “China and other hotspots.”

“As a result a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe,” he continued.

In the meantime, India has suspended all tourist visas until the 5th of April. The Indian government also announced that travellers arriving in the country from virus-hit countries will be quarantined.

“All existing visas issued to nationals of any country except those issued to Diplomats, Officials, UN/International organizations, Employment, Project visas stand suspended till April 15, 2020,” the announcement read.

It also noted that all incoming travelers, including Indian nationals arriving from any destination and having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany on or after February 15, 2020 will be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days.”

-with inputs from agencies