New Delhi: United States President Joe Biden has signed a directive imposing new vaccine requirements for most foreign air travellers and will also be lifting severe travel restrictions on China, India and much of Europe, the White House told Reuters. The new US travel rules will come into effect on November 8, 2021.
Earlier in 2020, the US imposed travelling restrictions in view to curb the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.
"It is in the interests of the United States to move away from the country-by-country restrictions previously applied during the COVID-19 pandemic and to adopt an air travel policy that relies primarily on vaccination to advance the safe resumption of international air travel to the United States," Biden's proclamation was quoted by Reuters in its report.
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Children below 18 years of age along with people with some medical issues are exempted from the vaccine requirements, the White House confirmed. The exemption is further extended to non-tourist travellers from about 50 countries with nationwide vaccination rates of 10% and below. However, people getting exemptions with an intention to stay in the US for more than 60 days will generally need to be vaccinated.
On September 20, the White House had disclosed that it will remove travel restrictions in early November from air travellers who are fully vaccinated from 33 countries.
In this regard, the White House administration has issued directives to the airlines following which they can ensure that foreign travellers are being fully vaccinated before boarding the flight to US.
(With inputs from Reuters)