Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa covering President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. government, UN, IMF, World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington and New York.
The Biden administration will announce on Friday that the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lift its requirement for all travelers entering the United States to test negative for COVID-19. The move will go in effect for all U.S.-bound travelers at midnight on Sunday, according to a senior administration official. The measure had been in place since January 2021.
The senior administration official said the requirement was no longer necessary based on the science and data, and that the CDC will reassess its decision in 90 days.
The travel industry had long lobbied against the requirement for months and the official added that President Biden plans to work with airlines to ensure a smooth transition with the change.
The travel industry had asked the Biden administration in recent weeks to end testing requirements for travelers entering the United States because it was having a negative effect on their business.
The measure was put in place to protect Americans against COVID-19 but with vaccines widely available and number of COVID-19 cases and deaths going down drastically, the travel industry had argued that the requirement had become outdated.
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