Travellers flying to US no longer need to show negative Covid-19 test

WASHINGTON • The United States has rescinded a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for Covid-19, a move that follows intense lobbying by airlines and the travel industry.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky issued a four-page order late on Friday lifting the mandate, effective today, saying it is "not currently necessary".

The requirement had been one of the last major Covid-19 travel requirements in the US. Its end comes as the summer travel season kicks off, and airlines prepare for record demand.

Airlines have said that many Americans have not been travelling internationally because of concerns that they will test positive and be stranded abroad.

US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the CDC decision is based on science and available data, and said the agency "will not hesitate to reinstate a pre-departure testing requirement, if needed later".

The CDC will reassess the decision in 90 days, an administration official said.

The US has required incoming international air travellers to provide pre-departure negative tests since January last year. In December the CDC tightened the rule to require travellers to test negative within one day before flights to the US rather than three days.

The CDC has not required testing for land border crossings.

Many countries in Europe and elsewhere have already dropped testing requirements.

The CDC still requires most non-citizens to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter the US.

Two officials told Reuters the Biden administration had considered lifting the testing rule only for vaccinated travellers.

JetBlue Airways chief executive Robin Hayes told Reuters on Friday that the testing requirement was "the last obstacle to a really full international travel recovery", saying that it "served no purpose anymore".

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian last week said dropping the requirements will boost travel, noting that 44 of 50 countries Delta serves do not require testing.

The International Air Transport Association, the world's biggest airline trade group, said it was "great news" that the administration is "removing the ineffective pre-departure Covid-19 test for travel to the US".

In April, a federal judge declared the CDC's requirements that travellers wear masks on planes and in transit hubs like airports unlawful and the Biden administration stopped enforcing it. The Justice Department has appealed against the order, but no decision is likely before autumn at the earliest.

The CDC continues to recommend that travellers wear masks and get Covid-19 tests before and after international flights.

Meanwhile, Canada is suspending random Covid-19 tests at airports until the end of this month in a bid to reduce chronic delays to travellers in recent weeks.

The government said on Friday that the tests would be put on hold from yesterday.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE