The United States Government has urged medical professionals from around the world to apply for visas as they hope to battle COVID-19.

At the moment, the United States of America is now the worst-hit country in terms of the number of cases.

Currently, they have recorded over 85,000 cases of the deadly bug, which is higher than that of China and Italy.

As such, the official website of the US government, travel.state.gov, asked people from around the globe to visit the nearest US embassy or consulate and apply for visas.

“We encourage medical professionals seeking to work in the United States on a work or exchange visitor, particularly those working to treat or mitigate the effects of COVID-19, to reach out to the nearest embassy or consulate to request a visa appointment,” they wrote.

“For those foreign medical professionals already in the United States:

“J-1 Alien Physicians (medical residents) may consult with their programme sponsor, ECFMG, to extend their programmes in the United States.  Generally, a J-1 program for a foreign medical resident can be extended one year at a time for up to seven years.”

“Note that the expiration date on a U.S. visa does not determine how long one can be in the United States. The way to confirm one’s required departure date is here.

Incidentally, this is coming at a time the US imposed visa restrictions on several countries, including Nigeria.