US will not lift travel restrictions, citing Delta variant, White House says

Rows of empty seats of an American Airline flight are seen during a flight between Washington DC and Miami, in Washington, US. [Reuters]

The United States will not lift any existing travel restrictions "at this point" due to concerns over the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant and the rising number of U.S. coronavirus cases, the White House confirmed on Monday.

The decision, which was first reported by Reuters, comes after a senior level White House meeting late on Friday. It means that the long-running travel restrictions that have barred much of the world's population from the United States since 2020 will not be lifted in the short term.