US lifts restrictions for fully vaccinated individuals from today onwards

The US opens its doors to travellers from a long list of countries that have been subject to previous pandemic restrictions.

Fully vaccinated travellers from Mexico, Canada, the UK and most of Europe, as well as China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil, will be allowed into the US at airports and land borders as restrictions are lifted on Monday.

The pandemic controls, originally introduced in early 2020, blocked access to the United States for non-citizens who were in these countries 14 days before travel.

The restrictions have devastated the tourism industry, preventing friends and family from simply visiting the United States. Under politics, missed weddings, funerals, and reunions escalated.

River Robinson's US partner could not be in Canada for the birth of her baby 17 months ago due to pandemic-linked border closures.

While speaking to the Associated Press News Agency, she said she would be heading south South for the long-awaited meet.

"I plan to take my baby down for American Thanksgiving," said Robinson, who lives in St. Thomas, Ontario. "When all goes well on the border, I plan to take him down as much as I can. It is crazy to think he has a very different side of the family that he has not yet met.

The countries that were recently given permission account for 53 per cent of all foreign visitors to the US. in 2019, as per to trade group US Travel.

Data from travel and analysis firm Cirium have shown that airlines are increasing flights between the UK and US by 21 per cent this month.

There are few, if any, empty seats on many of the international flights on Monday, and passenger volumes are expected to remain high in the coming weeks.

Air travellers will be required to show their vaccination status and a negative COVID-19 test. Those travelling with the country from Canada to Mexico only need to show evidence of vaccination.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US said they would only be accepting people immunized with vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), which means the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, and the India-developed Covaxin vaccine will also be accepted.