‘As if’: Ben Fordham’s fury at new US travel ban

Radio host Ben Fordham didn’t mince words after learning the Covid-riddled US had turned its attention to Australia.

The United States is advising its citizens to avoid Australia, as our Omicron-driven spike in Covid infections continues.

For the first time since the pandemic began, the US has slapped a “do not travel” warning on Australia.

The level 4 advisory warning, the highest possible travel warning, was issued by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in response to our Omicron wave.

Australia was one of 22 countries added to the US’s do not travel list, with Israel, Egypt, Argentina and the Bahamas among the others.

In total, more than 100 countries are on the CDC’s level four alert list.

“Avoid travel to Australia,” the CDC warned.

“If you must travel to Australia, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel. Because of the current situation in Australia, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk of getting and spreading Covid-19 variants.

The new travel ban was too much for 2GB radio host Ben Fordham, who blasted the warning this morning.

“What a joke this is,” Fordham said, after informing his listeners the US had upped its advisory level against Australia.

“What’s it got to do with Australia, (Omicron) is everywhere in the world. As if the US can talk. The US advice is based on data that shows the number of Covid cases per population head is now ahead of America.”

Ben Fordham blasted the ban as ‘a joke’: Picture: Gaye Gerard/ Daily Telegraph

Fordham questioned if the US was “kidding” with its ban.

“America can send out any warnings they want, but if you think back over the last two years, and if you had a choice between living in Australia or the United States, do we even need to answer that question?” he asked.

“Yesterday, America had more coronavirus deaths than Australia has had in the entire pandemic. 2990 in a single day, our total over two years is 2800 ... Let’s look at the number of deaths versus cases. Australia’s death rate is o.1 per cent. America’s death rate is 1.25 per cent. That’s 12 and a half times higher than ours.”

“And the US is warning people not to come here? They’ve gotta be kidding ... Their vaccination rate is not very successful ... why are they giving us a lecture on Covid?

“I’m not trying to make this too personal but they’ve singled us out here. What happens if you go to hospital? In Australia we treat people for free, in the US you pay.

“America can say whatever they’d like about Australia but I know where I’d rather be.”

Americans are being advised to avoid Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Per capita, Australia currently has one of the highest Covid rates in the world.

Despite that, Australia still has one of the lowest death rates in the world, losing 2843 people in total to Covid.

In the US, by contrast, more than 845,000 people have died from Covid since the pandemic began in early 2020. The country is currently recording an average of 750,000 new cases a day, and has broken the million-case mark on multiple occasions recently.

The travel advisory comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday announced the waiving of visa fees for backpackers and international students and urged them to “come on down”.

“We will be rebating the visa application fees from all those who arrive today and going forward for students over the next eight weeks and that is a fee of some $630,” Mr Morrison said.

“There are around 150,000 students who have visas who we are encouraging to come back to be there for the start of their university or college year and that is a thank you to them for coming back and continuing to choose Australia.

“For backpackers... we'll be rebating their visa application fee and there are some 23,500 backpackers who have visas to come to Australia right now.

“My message to them is – come on down. Come on down now because you wanted to come to Australia, you've got your visa, we want you to come to Australia and enjoy a holiday here in Australia, move all the way around the country.”