The Biden administration has decided to lift the requirement that all travelers bound for the United States by air, including American citizens, must
The Biden administration has decided to lift the requirement that all travelers bound for the United States by air, including American citizens, must show negative coronavirus test results before boarding flights, a senior administration official said Friday morning.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention required travelers heading for the United States to have a negative test result in an attempt to slow the spread of the fast-moving virus and its variants.
That policy will expire Sunday at 12:01 a.m., the official said, after officials at the C.D.C. determined that the widespread adoption of vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 no longer make it a requirement.
But the official said that the C.D.C. will re-evaluate the decision in 90 days, and said that the requirement for pre-departure testing could be reinstated if there are new concerns about another variant.
The testing requirement was first introduced in January 2021, when fewer than 10 percent of Americans were vaccinated and new infections were reaching record levels, but in recent months with higher vaccination rates and less severe cases, travel industry representatives have been mounting pressure on the Biden administration to lift the requirement.
The administration official said that the C.D.C. would continue to recommend testing for travel.
www.nytimes.com