CDC announced today that it will enforce a COVID-19 negative recovery verification or documentation requirement for air passengers boarding flights to the United States from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions. CDC is pronouncing this step to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the United States and the increase in COVID-19 cases in the People’s Republic of China given the lack of sufficiently good and transparent knowledge about viral genomic and epidemiological sequences reported through the People’s Republic of China. This knowledge is an essential to monitor well the accumulation in cases and reduce the threat of access of a new variant of concern. CDC will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our technique as needed.
Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to emerge in countries around the world. However, reduced verification and case reporting in CPR and minimal knowledge sharing of viral genomic series may also delay the identity of new fear variants if they occur. Pre-departure verification and the requirement to provide a negative verification result have been shown to minimise the number of inflamed passengers on board the aircraft, and this will reduce the spread of the virus as we seek to identify and detect potential new variants that could possibly emerge.
As of 00:01 ET on January 5, all air passengers over the age of two years of age from the People’s Republic of China must take a (such as a PCR or an antigen self-administered and monitored through a telehealth service or approved and legal provider through the Food and Drug Administration or the competent national authority) no later than 2 days before their departure from China, Hong Kong or Macau, and provide a negative result to the airline at the time of departure.
The requirement applies to air passengers, regardless of nationality and vaccination status.
This shall also apply to persons travelling from the People’s Republic of China in transit from a third country and to passengers connecting the United States to other destinations.
In addition to applying this requirement to direct flights from the People’s Republic of China, passengers transiting through Incheon International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport to the United States will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 check if they have been in the PRC within the last 10 days, no more than 2 days before departure to the United States. These 3 transit hubs accommodate the vast majority of passengers coming from the PRC and Special Administrative Regions. We will continue to monitor patterns, adjust our techniques as needed, and keep Americans informed in a timely manner.
Passengers who test positive more than 10 days prior to the flight may provide COVID-19 recovery documentation from a negative verification result.
Airlines will be required to verify the negative COVID-19 verification result or recovery documentation of all passengers before boarding or denying boarding to the passenger.
The CDC is also expanding the Traveler-Based Genomic Surveillance (TGS) program, a voluntary program that serves as an early precaution formula for stumbling over and characterizing new and rare variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. TGS collects unnamed nasal swabs from arriving foreign travelers choose flights at major U. S. foreign airports. U. S. airports (Los Angeles and Seattle): bringing the total number of airports to seven and the number of weekly flights covered to about 500 from at least 30 countries in all World Health Organization (WHO) regions. This includes approximately 290 weekly flights from the People’s Republic of China. and surroundings.
TGS has been shown to fill gaps in global surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants that occur when many countries minimize or discontinue testing and sequencing. In the first few weeks of Omicron’s increase, TGS stumbled upon two subvariants of Omicron, BA. 2 and BA. . 3, and reported them to the global database weeks before they were reported elsewhere, demonstrating that the programme must encounter variants ahead of time.
The technique presented, when superimposed with existing CDC recommendations such as masking travel, self-monitoring symptoms, and testing for 3 days after travel arrives abroad, will help make travel safer, healthier, and more culpable by reducing spread on airplanes. at airports and at the destination and be attentive to any possible emerging variant. Our new testing policy, along with the expansion of TGS, will help protect travelers and the health and safety of American communities.
CDC also continues to work with WHO and partner countries to develop sequencing capacity and global capacity to find new variants.
This order will take effect at 12:01 a. m. ET on January 5, 2023. More data will be provided through CDC in the coming days. For a list of legal evidence, click here.