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Skift Take
New regulations won’t be welcomed by the travel industry, and airlines in particular, so soon after the country reopened its borders on Nov. 8.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that passengers flying to the U.S. will need to show a negative Covid-19 test performed within one day of departure as the spread of the Omicron variant continues to raise concerns.
The new rule, certain to be controversial, goes into effect during the week of December 6. It comes after the country’s first official Omicron variant case was detected in California, discovered in a fully vaccinated patient who had recently returned from South Africa.
In addition, Biden extended the federal mask mandate on flights, trains, and other forms of public transport through March 18, 2022. The mandate was previously set to expire on January 18.
The administration called the new testing rules and extended mask mandate necessary to “protect the American people against this variant and to continue to battle the Delta variant during the winter months when viruses tend to thrive.” Only about 60 percent of Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19, which is low among developed countries.
The update follows an earlier recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and will be a major blow for the travel industry, which had been counting on a return to business following the reopening of borders on Nov. 8.
On November 26, the U.S. added fresh restrictions for Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa, where new data reveals the Omicron wave is much steeper than the country’s previous Delta wave. On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said travel restrictions that isolated any one country or region were “not only deeply unfair and punitive – they are ineffective.”
This is a breaking news story. Come back for updates throughout the day.
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