US requires one-day COVID-19 testing for travelers regardless of vaccination status

December 8 ------ The United States will now require one-day COVID-19 testing for incoming travelers regardless of their vaccination status or nationality. In a statement, the US Embassy in the Philippines announced that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implemented the testing requirement for travelers over age two coming to America starting December 6, 2021.

"Regardless of vaccination status or nationality, any individual coming to the United States must show a negative pre-departure COVID-19 viral test taken the day before they board their flight to the United States," read the statement. The traveler must give their negative result to the airline before they board their flight, the embassy said. If the traveler has recovered from COVID-19, they must instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19. This documentation includes their positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel.

Previously, the US required vaccinated travelers to present a negative COVID-19 test results within three days of their departure. The stricter test requirement for travelers also came after the United States reported that 15 of its states detected the Omicron variant, which was designated as a variant of concern. These 15 states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin, according to Reuters.

Source: gmanetwork.com