Trump restricts travel from Europe as coronavirus disrupts life in US

Travellers scrambled to rebook flights and global markets reeled on Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on travel from Europe, hitting battered airlines and further straining ties with the continent.

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

Trump ordered travel from Europe to the United States restricted for 30 days, responding to mounting pressure to take action against a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak disrupting nearly all corners of US daily life.

"We are marshalling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people," Trump said in a prime-time televised address from the Oval Office on Wednesday.

"This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history."