Aeroméxico passengers flying from Europe to the United States with a layover in Mexico will not be allowed to board their connecting flights, but will instead be forced to wait 14 days before continuing on to their destinations.

Beginning Friday, the United States will not allow passengers from countries in Europe’s Schengen Area to enter the country directly in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus known as Covid-19.

The Schengen Area of the European Union includes France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Italy and other countries in mainland Europe.

Aeroméxico had a similar policy for travelers to the United States from China, where the virus originated.

“We did not allow passengers coming from China in the last 14 days to make their connection to the United States under instruction from the [U.S.] government. Now we’re including passengers from Europe in this scheme,” said Grupo Aeroméxico security director Arturo Duhart.

The airline added that it is reinforcing its sanitation protocols on its fleet of airplanes used for international routes.

“When a plane arrives from an at-risk area, we are cleaning the whole passenger cabin with a nebulizer and we’re also doing deep cleans,” said Duhart.

There are currently 16 confirmed cases of coronavirus, up from 12 cases yesterday, but health officials say that a widespread outbreak of the virus is inevitable in the coming weeks.

Sources: El Universal (sp), Político (sp)