US to impose COVID-19 screening requirement for UK flights

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 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement Thursday that all airline passengers arriving from the UK must test negative in order to fly to the United States.

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The US government had earlier said it did not intend to impose screenings for the passengers.

White House coronavirus task force members backed requiring negative pre-flight tests after a meeting on Monday, but the Trump administration decided not to take any action for the time being.

Much of the world shut their borders to Britain after the discovery of a mutated variant of the novel coronavirus, though the European Union recommended on Tuesday that members roll back sweeping closures to allow some travel.

The three airlines that operate flights from London to John F. Kennedy International Airport - British Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic - voluntarily agreed to a request from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that they only allow passengers who test negative to fly.

The Trump administration has repeatedly refused to issue mandates for many federal COVID-19 safety policies for air travel, making only strong recommendations on issues such as mask wearing.

The White House in August scuttled an effort to require airlines to collect contact tracing information from US-bound international passengers. It then in July rejected a proposal to require facial coverings at US airports, train and transit stations and onboard airplanes, trains and transit services and earlier dismissed proposals to require temperature checks of airline passengers.

President-elect Joe Biden has, however, vowed to mandate masks in interstate air, bus and train travel after taking office on January 20.