Australia Extends Travel Ban to South Korea Over Coronavirus

Lawmakers Strike Deal for $7.7 Billion to Fight Coronavirus

Lawmakers on Wednesday came to an agreement on more than $7 billion in emergency COVID-19 coronavirus funding. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) announced the move and funding in a press release, explaining that it’s not a political matter—but a public safety concern. “This should not be about politics; this is about doing our job to protect the American people from a potential pandemic,” said Shelby in a statement. “We worked together to craft an aggressive and comprehensive response that provides the resources the experts say they need to combat this crisis. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation and appreciate President Trump’s eagerness to sign this legislation and get the funding out the door without delay.” The emergency funding package was clinched as Centers for Disease Control and…

Australia will ban travellers from South Korea and introduce “enhanced screening” for travellers from Italy to deal with the coronavirus spread.

It follows similar action relating to China and Iran.

“We’ve got ahead of it early and we intend to stay ahead of this,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

Korean visitors will be banned from 9 p.m. on Thursday.

Australia Extends Travel Ban to South Korea Over Coronavirus

Australian citizens and permanent residents returning from Korea will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days when they return home.

Travellers from Italy will be asked mandatory questions at check-in.

Anyone who fails the checks will be denied approval to board an aircraft.

On arrival, passengers won’t be able to use electronic gates but rather will be dealt with by government officials who will ask further questions and undertake health screening measures.

In Australia two people have died out of 53 cases of the virus known as COVID-19.

By Paul Osborne

This article is from the Internet:Australia Extends Travel Ban to South Korea Over Coronavirus

Coronavirus Exposes Globalization’s Downside Amid Protective Equipment Shortages

Experts say personal protective equipment shortages in the United States reveal dangerous levels of over-reliance on globalized supply chains. “I’ve been preaching the same message since 2007,” said Mike Bowen, founder of the Secure Mask Supply Association, an organization that for years has been raising the alarm about the United States being at the mercy of foreign government-controlled production facilities of personal protective equipment that is critical in fighting epidemics. “For fourteen years, I’ve warned about America’s foreign-controlled mask supply,” he told The Epoch Times in an email. Bowen, who also runs Prestige Ameritech, the nation’s biggest surgical mask manufacturer, said he has been working flat out since the outbreak hit headlines, trying to fill orders for protective masks of the type frontline responders and medical staff rely on when dealing…