US President-elect Joe Biden's spokeswoman quickly dismissed Donald Trump's announcement Monday that a Covid-19 ban on travellers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted, underlining the fractious transition of power.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

"On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26," tweeted Jen Psaki, Biden's press secretary.

"In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of Covid-19."

"With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel," she added.

Just minutes prior to Psaki's tweet, President Trump said he would lift the travel ban on Europe and Brazil, although travel bans for China and Iran would remain in place. "This action is the best way to continue protecting Americans from COVID-19 while enabling travel to resume safely," he said in a statement released by the White House.