The United States will not lift any existing travel restrictions “at this point” due to concerns over the highly transmissible COVID-19Delta variant and the rising number of U.S. coronavirus cases, a White House official told Reuters.
The United States currently bars most non-U.S. citizens who within the last 14 days have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen nations in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil.
The extraordinary U.S. travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January 2020 to address the spread of COVID-19 and other countries have been added since then — most recently India in early May.
Last week, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Aug. 21 — even as Canada said it would begin allowing in fully vaccinated American tourists starting Aug. 9.
Starting that day, American travellers who are fully vaccinated won’t have to quarantine upon arrival in Canada, and the government-approved hotel quarantine program will also be axed.
They will, however, be subject to COVID-19 testing and will be required to provide proof of vaccination by way of the ArriveCAN smartphone app or web portal. Post-travel test results will no longer be necessary.