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(Adds background and comment by U.S. officials)
By David Shepardson and Tracy Rucinski
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. government
does not intend to impose COVID-19 screenings for passengers
traveling from Britain after the emergence of a highly
infectious new coronavirus variant there, people briefed on the
decision said.
White House coronavirus task force members backed requiring
negative pre-flight tests after a meeting on Monday, but the
Trump administration has decided not to take any action for the
time being, the people said.
Much of the world shut their borders to Britain after the
discovery of a mutated variant of the novel coronavirus, though
the European Union recommended on Tuesday that members roll back
sweeping closures to allow freight to resume and people to
return home for Christmas.
Several airlines are requiring New York-arriving passengers
from the UK to get negative COVID-19 tests within 72 hours of
departure after a request from the state's governor.
The Trump administration has repeatedly refused to issues
mandates for many federal COVID-19 safety policies for air
travel, making only strong recommendations on issues such as
mask wearing. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to mandate
masks in interstate air, bus and train travel after taking
office on Jan. 20.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Susan Heavey in Washington
and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Lisa Shumaker)
