US will no longer ask tourists for a negative Covid test
Testing mandate will expire at 12.01am on 12 June
Kass
White House sources say that the US requirement for international arrivals by air to take a Covid-19 test on the day of departure or the previous day is to be dropped this weekend.
The move will reduce cost, hassle and potential disappointment for British visitors to America this summer.
The Associated Press is quoting a senior Biden administration official as saying that the US health regulator, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will allow the mandate to expire at one minute past midnight on Sunday 12 June.
There is no indication that the requirement for international visitors to be fully vaccinated will be dropped.
But health officials will continue to evaluate the need for a test, which could be brought back in if a new variant of concern emerges.
The testing requirement was brought in last November, when the US opened its frontiers to international visitors from the UK and many other nations after 20 months of closure.
Initially a test could be taken up to three days before departure, but after the Omicron variant emerged the time frame was shortened by two days.
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