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Starting on Sunday, You Won't Have to Test For COVID-19 to Fly Into the U.S.

Ximena Bustillo
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In this photo, travelers pass a sign for COVID-19 testing at Logan Airport in Boston. The Biden administration is lifting its requirement for COVID testing before flying to the U.S.
Travelers pass a sign near a COVID-19 testing site in Terminal E at Logan Airport, on Dec. 21, 2021, in Boston .The Biden administration is lifting its requirement that international air travelers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, easing one of the last remaining government mandates meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus.  ( AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

The Biden administration is planning to drop the requirement for air travelers coming to the United States to test negative for COVID-19 before departure, starting on Sunday, according to a senior administration official.

The official said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had determined the requirement was no longer needed. The requirement will lift effective Sunday, June 12th at 12:01 a.m. ET.

More COVID Guidance and Explainers

The CDC will reassess the decision in 90 days and could reinstate it if there were a new COVID variant of concern, the official said.

Since December, travelers have had to present a negative COVID-19 test result taken no more than a day before departure​, or proof of recovery from the virus within the last 90 days.

The administration official said the new step was possible because of vaccines and treatments that are now available — and said the CDC will continue to recommend that people get tested for COVID before flying, even though it's not mandatory.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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