Travel bans ineffective in Covid-19 battle, Asia airline group says

Lower earnings: A file picture showing a mask-clad Cathay Pacific employee at the international airport in Hong Kong. Cathay has warned results in the first six months of this year will be “significantly down” from a year earlier. — AFP

JAKARTA: Governments should roll back or refrain from using travel restrictions as the cOVID-19 coronavirus is mainly being spread through local transmission rather than imported cases, a trade group of Asian airlines said.

"Given that the Covid-19 outbreak is now progressing across the globe, it is time for a fundamental rethink on travel restrictions, ” the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines said in a statement, shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 30-day suspension of travel from continental Europe to the U.S.