US announces travel ban over coronavirus

US president Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus.

However, he said the strong but necessary restrictions would not apply to the UK, which has 460 cases of the virus.

A presidential proclamation later specified that only travellers from the 26 countries in the Schengen border-free travel area were barred.

This leaves a number of other European countries including Ireland unaffected.