The U.S. government is expected to require all international airline passengers to demonstrate a negative test of the Covid-19 before boarding flights into the country, people familiar with the matter have reported.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to issue its order as early as Tuesday, after weeks of discussions between federal agencies and the White House coronavirus working group. The order is expected to take effect Jan. 26, according to a person familiar with the matter. The CDC and other administration officials were still completing the order.
The CDC’s order to conduct universal passenger testing, including U.S. citizens returning from abroad, comes weeks after the Trump administration imposed a testing requirement on UK travelers over concerns about a stump more infectious than the virus detected there. Since then, the new strain has been found elsewhere in the world and its presence in the US has been confirmed.
The U.S. requirement comes at a difficult time for the aerospace industry and international travelers facing a plethora of varied testing protocols and quarantine requirements around the world, including public health warnings urging the people to stay home.
U.S. airlines have expressed support for the new requirement, but have argued that accelerated testing protocols should replace travel restrictions and quarantines to reduce the spread of Covid-19.