WASHINGTON/PARIS, Dec 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US government will require all airline passengers arriving from the United Kingdom to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure starting Monday amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant that may be more transmissible.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that all airline passengers arriving from the UK must test negative in order to fly to the United States.
The decision was a turnaround after the Trump administration told US airlines on Tuesday it was not planning to require any testing for arriving UK passengers.
The decision follows the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant in Britain that has prompted many countries to shut their borders to travelers from there.
Earlier on Thursday, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines said they were requiring all passengers on flights from the United Kingdom to the United States to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure.
Airlines must confirm negative test results for all passengers before they board. If passengers choose not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding.
On Monday, the three airlines that fly from London to JFK Delta, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic – agreed to a request from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that they screen passengers from Britain.
US airlines have already drastically scaled back flying to the United Kingdom, as well as the rest of Europe.
PARIS: France has confirmed the first case of a new coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain, its health ministry said.
The first French case – found in a citizen living in Britain who arrived from London on Dec 19 – is asymptomatic and self-isolating at home in Tours in central France, the ministry said.
They were tested in a hospital on Dec 21, and later found positive for the strain.
Health authorities have carried out contact-tracing for the health professionals taking care of the patient, the ministry said in a statement.
On Monday, France’s health minister Olivier Veran had admitted that it was possible the newly discovered strain was already in the country.
Italian authorities have detected the new strain in a patient in Rome, while the World Health Organization reported that nine cases have been detected in Denmark and one each in the Netherlands and Australia.
With more than 68,000 deaths from the virus, the United Kingdom is one of the hardest hit countries in Europe. — NNN-AGENCIES
