The Biden government’s new, more stringent Covid-19 testing requirements for all travelers arriving in the United States will go into effect on Monday (6), a government official told CNN.
The new rules will require every passenger flying from another country to the US to take the test one day before their departure, changing the rules that allowed travelers to take the test up to three days before entering the country.
The new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rule will take effect at 10:00 am EDT.
The policy shift – which President Joe Biden announced on Thursday along with a list of new measures to combat Covid-19 – underscores the potential threat posed by the newly discovered Ômicron variant. Scientists are still working to determine how transmissible the strain is, how sick it makes people, and how effective current vaccines are against it.
“Experts say Covid-19 cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks and this winter. [norte-americano]”, said the president. “Then we need to be ready.”
Any foreign national traveling to the United States must be fully vaccinated, although there is no vaccination requirement for US citizens traveling by air, either globally or nationally. The White House said earlier in the day that the vaccine requirement for domestic travel remained on the table as an option for the future.
On Monday, the US banned all travel from South Africa and seven neighboring nations, with the exception of US citizens and legal permanent residents, who must test negative to enter the US. Asked on Tuesday how long current travel restrictions would remain in effect, Biden said: “Well, it kind of depends.”
“We go from week to week to determine what we need and where things are. We’re going to learn a lot more in the coming weeks about the lethality of this virus, about how much it spreads, about whether what we have can control it, etc.” continued Biden.
Health officials are asking people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or to take a booster if they are eligible. Other measures such as masks, hand washing, physical distance and ventilation will still work against the Ômicron variant.
The Delta variant of coronavirus remains the dominant variant globally and in the United States.
(Text translated, read original in English here)
Reference: CNN Brasil
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