Flying to US: New travel guidelines you should know

New Delhi, Oct 26: The United States has announced new COVID-19 international travel rules. These would come into effect from November 8.

Foreign national travellers to the US will required to be fully vaccinated and will have to provide proof of the same before boarding the aircraft. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that for the purposes of entry into the United States, vaccines accepted will include those US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved or authorized, as well as vaccines with an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO) that includes Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, according to an ANI report.

Mixing and matching of approved shots will be permitted.

Fully vaccinated travellers will continue to be required to show documentation of of pre-departure negative set from a sample taken within three days of travel to the US before boarding. This would include US citizens, permanent residents and foreign nationals.

Both US citizens and foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated should travel with proof of their vaccination status to provide to their airline prior to departure to the United States, the advisory also read.

To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travellers - whether US citizens, LPRs, or the small number of excepted unvaccinated foreign nationals - will now need to show documentation of a negative viral test from a sample taken within one day of travel to the United States, read the release, the ANI report also said.