The last Americans scrambling to get home from the UK and Ireland headed out of airports on Monday before a US travel ban over the coronavirus crisis comes into force. Washington announced at the weekend it would extend a European travel ban to the UK and Ireland, effective midnight Monday EST (0400 GMT Tuesday). In eerie scenes, travellers to the US boarded planes at the normally crowded, but now virtually empty, Gatwick and Dublin airports. Small numbers of passengers could be seen checking flight information boards before passing through departure gates. "It's kind of a relief to be honest," one American passenger, Ryan Wuest told AFP. "At first it didn't seem to be a problem to get home but the news kept on coming through." He added: "It feels good to be going home." European officials initially reacted angrily to President Donald Trump's travel ban. The original 30-day US ban on travel from the 26 countries in Europe's Schengen border-free zone took effect on Saturday, but at first notably excluded Britain and Ireland. That changed over the weekend. Flights that take off from the UK and Ireland before 11:59 pm on Monday (0359 GMT Tuesday) will be allowed entry into the United States. In addition to US citizens and permanent residents, their spouses and non-American parents and siblings of children under 21 who are citizens will be allowed to enter despite the ban. dmh/pvh