US President Donald Trump has said he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend all immigration to the US because of the coronavirus.

The president on twitter, cited “the attack from the invisible enemy”, as he calls the virus, and the need to protect the jobs of Americans, but he did not give details.

It was not clear what programmes might be affected and whether the president would be able to carry out the order.

However, critics say the government is using the pandemic to crack down on immigration.

Despite that, Immigration has traditionally been a strong campaigning theme for Mr Trump, but has taken a back seat during the pandemic and in the lead-up to the November election.

Mr Trump’s announcement late on Monday comes as the White House argues the worst of the pandemic is over and the country can begin reopening. The restrictions on people’s movement, implemented by many states to curb the spread of the virus, have paralysed parts of the economy.

And over the last four weeks, more than 20 million Americans have made jobless claims. That amounts to roughly as many jobs as employers had added over the previous decade.

Report according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic globally, says ’’US has over 787,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 42,000 deaths.’’

By Olawunmi Sadiq