December 26, 2020
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Passengers from U.K. flights to the U.S. will be required to test for COVID-19 before entry, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced.
Traveling from the United Kingdom? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said you'll need a COVID-19 test to fly, effective Monday.
A new strain of the coronavirus that could be as much as 70% more transmissible than the current strain was recently discovered in Britain, alarming scientists and governments around the world, Bloomberg News reported.
To curb the spread of the new strain, all passengers on flights coming from the U.K. to the United States will need to have a negative COVID-10 test within 72 hours of departure.
The CDC introduced this guidance on Thursday and CDC Director Robert Redfeild signed the order on Friday. These mitigation efforts go into effect Dec. 28.
Airline carriers must enforce test requirements and deny entry to those who do not take tests or lack documentation.
"On March 14, President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation to suspend the entry of foreign nationals who visited the United Kingdom in the past 14 days," the CDC said. "This has reduced air travel to the U.S. from the U.K. by about 90%. This additional testing requirement will fortify our protection of the American public to improve their health and safety and ensure responsible international travel."
It's unclear whether the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are effective against this new strain, though health officials are not optimistic. The companies said they are now testing each of their vaccines' effectiveness against the strain.
The New York TImes reported that researchers spotted a total of 23 COVID-19 mutations in samples from England. However, these mutations are either harmful to the virus or have little effect overall. But the new strain, dubbed B.1.1.7, looked like it could change the impact the way the virus spread.
Health officials and the CDC said that the new strain could already be circulating in the United States undetected.
So far, more than 40 countries have imposed travel restrictions to the region, CNN reported. Canada and Hong Kong temporarily halted flights and London and southeast England went under a Tier 4 lockdown to limit the spread.
The strain has been spotted in South Africa as well, causing governments around the world to restrict flights from the region. However, South Africa denies claims that a new COVID variant was causing a second wave of infections in the UK.
These two variants are "two completely independent lineages," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement Thursday. The UK strain has a similar mutation to the South African strain, though.
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