US working on new COVID-19 rules for international visitors

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is considering requiring that international visitors be vaccinated against COVID-19. And it will gather information to conduct contact tracing on visitors after the U.S. revamps current broad travel restrictions. This was announced Wednesday by Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. He says the administration wants to make sure that international travel to the U.S. is “safe and sustainable,” and that a “new system” is being developed. The U.S. currently bars most non-Americans who have traveled to China, India, the United Kingdom, most of Europe, Brazil and other countries in the previous 14 days. Airlines and other travel companies have pushed the administration to ease the restrictions, particularly on U.K. visitors.