(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended a nationwide order temporarily halting evictions for millions of U.S. renters on Wednesday, in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The order will be extended until at least March 31, the newly appointed U.S. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.
The CDC issued the initial order in September that lasted through Dec. 31, which covers all 43 million U.S. residential renters as long as they meet income eligibility requirements.
It applies to individual renters who did not expect to earn more than $99,000 last year or $198,000 for joint filers. It also applies to renters who did not report income in 2019 or received a stimulus check earlier in 2020.
The U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 400,000 this week, as the country hardest hit by the pandemic struggles to meet the demand for vaccines to stem the spread of the virus.
The number of deaths has spiked since Christmas, with total cases crossing 24 million in the country.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
