Negative Covid-19 Test Must for All Travelers to US
Those travelling to the United States will be required to show a negative Covid-19 test in order to enter the country, according to an official announcement.
The order applies to both foreign nationals and US citizens, said a statement issued by the US Department of State and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The two departments, who deal with all immigration and health matters, said that “beginning Jan 26, all travelers, including air passengers two years of age or older arriving to the United States must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test or proof of recovery from Covid-19 before boarding.”
According to an earlier story, President Joe Biden will announce he is re-imposing a Covid-19 travel ban on most non-US citizens who have been in Britain, Brazil, Ireland and much of Europe, a White House official said, as the new administration ramps up its pandemic response.
Biden will also on Monday extend the ban to travelers who have recently been to South Africa amid warnings that new, more transmissible coronavirus variants are already establishing themselves in the United States, the official said, confirming US media reports.
The new president last week tightened mask-wearing rules and ordered quarantine for people flying into the United States, as he seeks to tackle the country's worsening coronavirus crisis.
Biden has said that the Covid-19 death toll would likely rise from 420,000 to half a million next month -- and that drastic action was needed.
"We're in a national emergency. It's time we treated it like one," he said on Thursday.
In his last days in office, Donald Trump announced that a Covid-19 ban on travelers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted -- but the Biden administration said it would immediately reverse the order due to come into effect on January 26.
Trump had announced an initial ban on January 31, 2020 on non-American travelers entering from China to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The ban was extended to European countries on March 14 as the pandemic entered full force.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
