Coronavirus Response: US Looking At Brazil Travel Ban, Trump National Security Adviser Says

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday that the United States is looking at travel restrictions on Brazil amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The South American nation has become one of the world’s top hotspots for the virus.

"We hope that'll be temporary, but because of the situation in Brazil, we're going to take every step necessary to protect the American people," O’Brien told CBS News program "Face The Nation."

O’Brien claimed the U.S. is sending ventilators to Brazil and Russia, another country that has been hit hard by the virus. The National Security Adviser said the Trump administration is looking at travel restrictions “on a country-by-country basis.”

Brazil has struggled to contain the virus, with President Jair Bolsonaro downplaying the disease as a “little flu” in the early stages of the outbreak. Bolsonaro has quarreled with state governors that have imposed stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the virus. Bolsonaro fired popular Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta in April due to disagreements over social distancing measures, and replaced him with health consultant and entrepreneur Nelson Teich.

In mid-May, Nelson Teich resigned from the Health Minister position, after Bolsonaro continued to push unproven anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus.

Brazil’s hospitals have been overwhelmed amid the outbreak, with Sao Paulo being the most infected city. Brazil’s indigenous population and low-income favela communities have also been disproportionately impacted.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world of the virus, behind the United States. As of 2:55 p.m. ET, there are 347,398 cases of the virus in Brazil, with the country’s death toll standing at 22,013.