Lately the South American country has become the second major epicenter for COVID-19 infections around the globe. On Sunday, the country's health ministry announced that over 360,000 reported cases have been verified in Brazil while over 22,000 people have been killed with the virus.

Because of the outbreak of coronavirus in Latin America's hardest-hit nation, the White House has declared a restriction on travel to the United States from Brazil. A spokesperson for the White House stated that such measures should help ensure that new infections are not taken into the US.

On Sunday evening, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that the ban extends to all foreigners who spent 14 days in Brazil prior to heading to the United States.

"Today's action will help ensure foreign nationals who have been in Brazil do not become a source of additional infections in our country," said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

McEnany shed it as US President Donald Trump 's decision to "to protect our country." Last week Trump cautioned he was contemplating a travel ban on Brazil. Such an entry will be rejected to non-Americans who've been in Brazil in the two weeks prior to the request for entry to the US. However, the ban will not affect intercountry trade.

The travel ban does not apply to United States nationals, or to the spouse , parents, guardians, or a child of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, as well as most siblings below the age of 21.

"The potential for undetected transmission of the virus by infected individuals seeking to enter the United States from [Brazil] threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security," according to the suspension order announced by the White House on Sunday.

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A setback for Bolsonaro

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's controversial president, has been exposed to more pressure as his political hero Donald Trump levied a travel ban on non-US individuals traveling to South America in relation to a rising rate of Brazilian infections of coronavirus.

The ban seems to have been a blow to right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, which in his strategy to the outbreak has shadowed Trump, having to fight demands for social distancing as well as veering unproven treatments. Moreover, the office of the Brazilian President did not decline to comment.

"The US maintains a strong partnership with Brazil and we work closely to mitigate the socioeconomic and health impacts of COVID-19 in Brazil," as per the US Embassy's statement in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro 's enemies portrayed the motion of the US as an embarrassing snub and evidence of his misdirected submission to Trump.

Bolsonarista authorities scrambled to put a positive note on the restriction. Filipe Martins, Bolsonaro's foreign policy advisor tweeted "Ignore hysteria in the press," referring to previous US bans on travelers from China, Iran, the UK and the European Union during the coronavirus outbreak.

Six former Brazilian ministers criticized Bolsonaro's "shameful" subordination in an open letter released earlier this month and asserted that his approach to the outbreak had made Brazil "an object of international derision and disgust."