US opens border to fully vaccinated int'l travellers
Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Nov, 2021 11:50 AM
New York, Nov 9 (IANS) The US has opened it doors to fully vaccinated international travellers, welcoming the visitors who have been shut out of the country for about 20 months, which is seen as a relief for the tourism industry and for families separated by previous Covid-19 rules.
International flight arrivals are expected to rise 11 per cent on Monday over a similar day in October at Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy international airports, with 253 flights scheduled to arrive, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Xinhua news agency reported.
Airline executives have said bookings have surged since the Joe Biden administration said it would lift the restrictions. "Shares of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines were each up more than 1 per cent in morning trading. Those carriers have the most international service of the U.S. airlines and stand to benefit from the resumption of US-bound travel," reported CNBC.
The ban, put in place by former US President Donald Trump in early 2020 and expanded by President Joe Biden early this year, prohibited visitors from 33 countries, including Britain, much of Europe, China, Brazil and South Africa.
Now, visitors can fly into the United States with proof of full COVID-19 vaccination. Documentation can be shown as a paper certificate, a photo of the document or a digitized version. There are exemptions for travellers under age 18 and passengers from countries with low vaccination availability.
Accepted vaccines are those approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and those listed for use by the World Health Organization: Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Covishield, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
The United States will also require proof of a negative Covid-19 test from within the past three days for all vaccinated travellers. The country has required that since January for all arrivals, including US citizens. If a traveller is not vaccinated, the Covid-19 test must have been taken from within one day of departure.
A Pakistan court on Friday sentenced Qandeel Baloch's brother Mohammad Waseem, the prime suspect in the social media star and model's murder case, to life imprisonment.
The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has said the precise location of India's moon lander Vikram on the lunar highlands is yet to be determined.
With mission Kashmir as his sole focus, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan targeted India at the UN General Assembly, with his speech a repetition of everything he has been saying the past few weeks.
In July, Donald Trump made racist comments apparently against four Congresswomen. In a tweet, he said they should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."
Alice Wells, US Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia criticised Khan for not highlighting the "horrific conditions" that continue to exist for the members of the Muslim community in China's in Xinjiang province.
Audrey Truschke, History professor at Rutgers University, said India “has experienced, often personally and painfully, the cataclysmic results of his hateful brand of extreme nationalism — Hindutva”.
