Biden administration is lifting its requirement that international air travellers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, easing one of the last remaining government mandates meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A senior administration official said the mandate expires Sunday, saying the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that it’s no longer necessary. The official, speaking Friday on the condition of anonymity to preview the formal announcement, said that the agency would reevaluate the need for the testing requirement every 90 days and that it could be reinstated if a troubling new variant emerges.

The Biden administration put in place the testing requirement last year, as it moved away from restrictions that banned nonessential travel from several dozen countries — most of Europe, China, Brazil, South Africa, India and Iran — and instead focuses on classifying individuals by the risk they pose to others. It came in conjunction with a requirement that foreign, non-immigrant adults traveling to the United States need to be fully vaccinated, with only limited exceptions. The initial mandate allowed those who were fully vaccinated to show proof of a negative test within three days of travel, while unvaccinated people had to present a test taken within one day of travel. In November, as the highly transmissible omicron variant swept the world, the Biden administration toughened the requirement and required all travellers, regardless of vaccination status, to test within a day of travel to the U.S. Airline and tourism groups have been pressing the administration for months to eliminate the testing requirement, saying it is discouraging people from booking international trips. Many other countries have lifted their testing requirements for fully vaccinated and boosted travellers in a bit to increase tourism. In February, the groups argued the testing requirement was obsolete because of the high number of omicron cases already in every state, higher vaccination rates and new treatments for the virus. 

“I’m glad CDC suspended the burdensome coronavirus testing requirement for international travellers, and I’ll continue to do all I can to support the strong recovery of our hospitality industry,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said in a statement. The lifting of the requirement comes six weeks after a federal judge ended the CDC’s mask requirement for mass transit, including trains, planes, buses and transit hubs, saying the agency exceeded its authority. The Biden administration is appealing that ruling, saying it aims to protect the CDC’s ability to respond to future health emergencies. The official said the CDC will continue to recommend COVID-19 testing prior to air travel of any kind as a safety precaution. MW

Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association, NATCA said it has put on hold its ongoing industrial action for two weeks pending the implementation of the agreement reached with Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA. It will be recalled the controllers started ” control flow ” and disruption of early morning domestic flights out of airports in the country on Tuesday morning. According to the President of NATCA, Comrade Abayomi Agoro, a meeting was held on Tuesday night between the Managing Director of NAMA and NATCA Executives. He also said the meeting discussed extensively all the issues highlighted by NATCA and it was agreed that a ” 4-man follow up and implementation group be submitted by NATCA ” to work with NAMA management team immediately.

He further said that management of NAMA will immediately ” implement 3 crucial demands from NATCA as a show of goodwill as others are being worked on for implementation.” Agoro said “As a fallout of our actions, the MD/CEO of NAMA requested for a meeting with NATCA EXCO. The meeting discussed extensively on all the issues highlighted by NATCA and it was agreed that a 4-man follow up and implementation group be submitted by NATCA to work with management team immediately. That management of NAMA will immediately implement 3 crucial demands from NATCA as a show of goodwill as others are being worked on for implementation. That as a sign of reciprocating management’s action, NATCA shall suspend all further action on all forms of reactions as it further engages management on implementation.

“That the MD/CEO shall be the direct head of the implementation group.

In consideration of all of the above, NATCA has agreed to suspend any further protests or actions for 2 weeks pending the outcome of the implementation of the 3 items agreed to,” the NATCA President said.

 He also clarified that the  controllers decided to embarked on  “Air Traffic Flow Control ” because an operational ATC flow control is part of the tools recognised by ICAO, and used worldwide in the event that there “exist a deficiency or inability of the  Air Traffic Management, ATM, system to deliver a safe, efficient and effective ATC service.” He also added that NATCA decided to embark on such process and to use such tool, after a deliberate due diligence indicated that ” due to some failures in the ATM system, it’s members could no longer guarantee the delivery of a safe, efficient and effective ATC service”

British Airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China after Britain warned against all but essential travel to the country due to the coronavirus outbreak. BA.com, the airline’s website, shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February.

“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority,” BA said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com.” Britain on Tuesday advised against “all but essential” travel to mainland China due to the coronavirus outbreak.