(Washington) The United States will lift the test requirement for COVID-19 for travelers arriving in the country by plane, announced Friday the White House.
Posted at 10:28 a.m.
Updated at 10:48 a.m.
Faced with the arrival of the Omicron variant, health authorities had tightened testing procedures to enter the United States in December 2021. All travelers over the age of 2, boarding a flight from abroad bound for the United States States, had to present a negative test less than a day before take-off, regardless of their vaccination status.
According to a spokesperson for the presidency, Kevin Munoz, who announced on Twitter the lifting of this requirement, the health authorities will continue “to assess the needs based on the science and the context of the circulation of the variants”.
The end of the obligation will come into effect on Sunday, according to US media.
Several other countries, notably in Europe, had already stopped requiring a pre-boarding test from international travelers.
Following a court decision, the mandatory wearing of masks was also lifted in the United States in April on public transport, and in particular on planes.
The United States is currently registering more than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, a figure that is also greatly underestimated according to experts. The recent surge has been linked to Omicron sub-variants.
About 300 people still die of the disease in the country daily, but health authorities are now highlighting the many remedies available, including vaccines but also the antiviral Paxlovid in the event of infection.