A senior official said the White House is expected to formally announce that it will lift its requirement that travelers provide a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of entering the United States.
The official — who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement — said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the move after determining it was no longer necessary "based on science and data." The measure will be lifted as of midnight Sunday.
The CDC said it will reassess its decision in 90 days and if officials decide they need to reinstate it, because of a concerning new variant, for example, they will do so.
The measure is one of the last federally mandated COVID-19 restrictions still in place. Travel and transportation industry officials have been pressuring the White House for months to lift the measure, saying it was stifling international tourism. The measure has been in place since January 2021.
The Associated Press reports domestic U.S. travel has effectively returned nearly to pre-pandemic levels.
Many other countries have lifted their testing requirements for fully vaccinated and boosted travelers in a bid to increase tourism. (AS/VOA)