After respiratory illness cases spike in China, five senators ask Biden to impose travel ban

A group of Republican senators wrote to US President Joe Biden’s administration to ban travel between the United States and China following reports of a spike in Chinese respiratory illness cases. Led by Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio, the lawmakers in a letter wrote: “We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness”.

The letter was also signed by JD Vance, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Braun. Rubio, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with the aforementioned five others, said the Biden administration should be cautious about the rise in cases of respiratory illnesses in China.

The cases became a global issue when the World Health Organization (WHO) asked the Chinese government for more information regarding clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.