The United States has announced that it will ease travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers, including those from the 33 countries currently impacted by the US travel ban. The new rules apply to all international air travel and will take effect in early November, at which time fully vaccinated foreign nationals and American citizens arriving into the US from abroad will be subject to new testing and contact-tracing procedures.

Beginning in November, all fully vaccinated travelers arriving into the US will need to:

In addition, the new travel policy adds more stringent testing requirements for unvaccinated US citizens. Beginning in November, unvaccinated Americans who are traveling back to the US from overseas will need to provide a negative COVID-19 test within one day of departure and once again after arrival.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will also issue an order directing airlines to collect phone numbers and email addresses from all US-bound travelers for the contact-tracing system, and airlines will be required to keep contact-tracing information for 30 days. Authorities will follow up with international travelers after arrival to ask whether they are experiencing symptoms of the virus. Fully vaccinated travelers will not be subject to any quarantine mandates upon arrival in the US.

Please note, the process and means for travelers to demonstrate vaccination status will be released by early November when this plan begins to be implemented. White House officials have stated that there will be a few exemptions to the vaccination requirements for foreign visitors, such as for children not yet eligible to be vaccinated, but full details of the policy have not yet been released.

Click "Read More" for extensive details of the new rules for vaccinated international travelers as published on CNN.

The UK Government has announced several changes relating to entry requirements for arrivals into England. The new system has been simplified for international travel in light of the success of the UK's domestic vaccine rollout. Beginning October 4, the existing tiered traffic light system will be replaced by a single red list of countries and territories, and simplified travel measures for arrivals from the rest of the world, including the US. Testing requirements will also be reduced for eligible fully vaccinated travelers, who will no longer need to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test when traveling to England from a non-red country. In addition, the UK government also plans to allow eligible fully vaccinated travelers and those with an approved vaccine from a select group of non-red countries to replace their day 2 PCR test with a cheaper lateral flow test by the end of October. Travelers will still be required to complete a passenger locator form prior to arrival.

For unvaccinated adults and arrivals from red list destinations the existing testing requirements and 10 day self-isolation period will remain. Hotel quarantine will also remain for all arrivals from red list destinations.

Miami International Airport (MIA) is collaborating with the Global Forensic and Justice Center (GFJC) at Florida International University (FIU) and American Airlines to trial a 30-day pilot program of COVID-19 sniffing dogs at the airport, reports Travel Market Report. The dogs are potentially able to immediately detect and alert to the virus in public spaces. The dogs will be stationed at airport security, the same place that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has traditionally deployed canines. If the dogs are able to detect a person who may be carrying the virus, security will pull the person aside to get a rapid COVID test. According to MIA, the dogs were able to detect COVID during their training sessions at a rate from 96% to 99%. While Miami will become the first US airport to use the dogs, international airports such as Dubai International Airport (DXB) have been using them for some time.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that it has launched a Spanish-language automated virtual assistant to answer routine traveler questions via social media. The new system allows Spanish-speaking travelers to obtain quick answers about airport security procedures by sending their questions to @AskTSA. The virtual assistant, launched in English in November 2019, answers common questions instantly around the clock, 365 days a year. Hundreds of thousands of traveler questions have been answered by the automated system since its inception. The Spanish-language automated system will help many more travelers quickly get answers to common airport security questions using their mobile device