US to require UK travelers to have a negative Covid-19 test before their flight

The US will require UK airline passengers to produce a negative Covid-19 test before their flight, in response to a new variant of the coronavirus.

It is the latest country to announce new travel restrictions due to the variant spreading across the UK and elsewhere.

UK airline passengers will need negative tests within three days of their journey and to provide the results to the airline, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

The agency said the order will go into effect Monday.

Airlines must deny boarding to any passenger who does not undergo a test, the CDC said.

The agency said that due to travel restrictions in place since March, air travel to the United States from the United Kingdom has already been reduced by 90%.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant of the coronavirus appeared to be spreading more easily than previous ones and was moving rapidly across England. Since then, dozens of countries have banned flights from the UK.

But he stressed that “there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more serious disease,” or that vaccines will be less effective against it.

This week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that three airlines with scheduled flights from London to New York – British Airways, Delta and Virgin Atlantic – had agreed to require passengers to undergo a test before boarding the plane. .

United Airlines yesterday agreed to do the same for its flights to Newark, NJ.

The UK has been under considerable pressure since the news of the new variant was made public. Some 40 countries imposed travel bans, leaving the nation increasingly isolated, after Johnson warned that the new variant could be 70% more contagious.

France relaxed a coronavirus-related ban on trucks from Britain on Tuesday after a two-day standoff that stranded thousands of drivers and sparked fears of Christmas food shortages in the UK.

French authorities, who imposed the ban to try to protect the mainland from the new variant, said delivery drivers could enter by ferry or tunnel as long as they showed evidence of a negative test.