WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly all air travelers will have to take a negative coronavirus test to enter the United States, according to extensive testing requirements announced Tuesday.
According to the rules coming into force on January 26, almost all travelers, including US citizens, must present a negative test within three days of departure or the recovery documentation from COVID-19, based on an order signed by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA. Robert Redfield.
All passengers over the age of 2 must comply, except for passengers passing through the United States only. The CDC will also consider waiving testing requirements for airlines flying in countries with little or no test capacity, including some parts of the Caribbean.
The order dramatically expands a requirement imposed on December 28 for travelers arriving from the UK as a more transmissible variant of the virus circulating there.
In an interview, Marty Cetron, director of the CDC’s global migration and quarantine division, said: “We really need to have priority … We need to take these changes seriously.”
Canada has imposed similar rules for almost all international arrivals since January 7, as have many other countries.
The CDC confirmed last week that it had distributed a proposal to extend the testing requirement after discussing the idea for weeks. Some senior White House officials have opposed it, and officials briefed on the issue said last week that US public health officials had essentially given up approval until President-elect Joe Biden took office.
At a White House meeting Monday, Redfield again made an urgent case for adopting testing requirements, people told the meeting. He expressed concern that vaccines could not be effective against virus variants.
Airlines for America, an industry trade group, praised the test plan. Airlines also wanted a ban lifted for most non-US visitors who have recently been to Brazil and most of Europe, but the White House has chosen not to end it.
Cetron said entry restrictions should “be actively reconsidered.”
Cetron confirmed that the CDC discussed the idea of extending the test requirement to domestic flights in the US, but stressed that the new order only applies to international flights.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese, Dan Grebler and Cynthia Osterman