Health

Airlines ask Biden to eliminate Covid-19 tests to enter US

Washington, Feb 2 (EFE).- A coalition of airlines and tourism sector companies asked the United States government Wednesday to eliminate Covid-19 tests for vaccinated passengers who want to enter the country, questioning their utility and claiming they harm international tourism.

In a letter addressed to Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, the airlines demanded that the current requirement to present a negative Covid-19 test carried out a day before traveling to the US be removed.

“Surveys of air passengers indicate that tests are a determining factor when giving up international travel. People are simply not willing to take the risk of not being able to return to the US,” they indicated in the letter to the government.

Airlines said the high vaccination rate and greater immunity developed by a large part of the population to Covid-19 justified the elimination of the measure, which would help the US’ economic recovery of the tourism and travel industry.

Among the signatories of the letter is Airlines for America, an association that brings together airlines such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines Holdings.

The United States government placed Mexico, Brazil, Chile and nine other countries and territories in category 4 of coronavirus transmission Monday, defined as “very high” risk, before advising citizens not to travel to those places.

The Centers for Disease Control also included Ecuador, Paraguay, the Philippines, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Moldova, Kosovo, Anguilla, and French Guiana.

The US is the country hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 75 million cases and 890,000 deaths. EFE

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