Starting June 12, No COVID Test Required to Enter the U.S.

According to senior Biden administration officials, who revealed the decision on June 10, the CDC will end the COVID testing requirement for travelers entering the United States by air effective 12:01 a.m. on June 12. From that point on, COVID testing requirements for entering the U.S. will be fully eliminated. Before this change, travelers entering by other means were already not required to take a COVID test, and some areas, such as Shanghai, had received CDC exemptions from the testing requirement because tests were difficult to obtain.

In the months leading up to this announcement, the U.S. airline industry group Airlines for America had repeatedly lobbied the federal government to remove the COVID testing requirement for entry, arguing that pre-departure testing was not particularly effective and pushing for the rule to be scrapped.