Biden administration removes Covid test requirement for inbound travelers

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International travelers no longer need to submit for Covid-19 testing after the Biden administration removes the requirement.

The U.S Government has imposed strict measures to prevent visitors from entering America since the Trump administration. Travelers would need to submit a negative result for Covid before they can enter the country.

The airline and travel agencies have been objecting to this requirement for years, saying that it does not benefit their industry.

The CEO of American Airlines, Robert Isom, has called the requirement “nonsensical,” and it frustrated many stakeholders in the industry.

U.S. Travel Association president, Roger Dow, said, “The Biden administration is to be commended for this action, which will welcome back visitors from around the world and accelerate the recovery of the U.S. travel industry.”

“International inbound travel is vitally important to businesses and workers across the country who have struggled to regain losses from this valuable sector,” he added.

The abolishment of the requirement, initiated by Biden, received a lot of positive remarks from many other executives and officials.

Mike Liptak, the vice president of the Travel Technology Association, said that he is hopeful that the decision will help restore the tourism sector in the U.S.

The CEO of Airlines for America has told the Biden administration that they would move “forward to continuing to work with the Administration to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of the traveling public and to ensure that air travel policies are guided by science.”

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would check the effectiveness of the new rule.

“If there is a need to reinstate a pre-departure testing requirement — including due to a new, concerning variant — CDC will not hesitate to act,” a CDC official said.