United States lifts COVID-19 test requirement for international travel

Washington, Jun 11: In United States, the Biden administration has announced that it is dropping the Covid-19 testing requirement for inbound air travelers from abroad, ending one of the longest-running travel restrictions of the pandemic.

The move will come into effect for US-bound air travelers at midnight tomorrow.

White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said the President Joe Biden's work on effective vaccines and treatments was critical to the development. The official said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made its determination based on the science and data that this requirement is no longer necessary at this time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will reassess its decision in 90 days and if officials decide they need to reinstate it, because of a concerning new variant, they will do so.

The rule, put in place by the Trump administration in early 2021 and later tightened by the Biden administration, most recently required inbound travelers, including US citizens, to show proof of a negative Covid test a day before boarding U.S.-bound flights. Travelers entering the US at land border crossings were exempt.

The move comes less than two weeks after leaders of the industry groups Airlines for America and the U.S. Travel Association met with officials at the White House to urge them to pull the plug on the requirement they maintained was outdated.