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U.S. to require negative coronavirus test from travelers from the U.K.

25 December 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Starting Monday the U.S. will require all air travelers from the United Kingdom to test negative for coronavirus within 72 hours of their departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced.

The big picture:More than 50 countries have restricted air travel to the U.K., as concerns have continued to grow after the nation and the World Health Organization said they'd identified a new variant of COVID-19 within the country.

How it works: Passengers will have to show proof of a negative result on a genetic swab test, known as PCR, or an antigen test that was administered within three days before their flight.

  • Airlines will be required to confirm the negative test result of all passengers before they board, and they will have to deny boarding to those who decline to show a test.
  • "This additional testing requirement will fortify our protection of the American public to improve their health and safety and ensure responsible international travel," the CDC wrote in a news release late Thursday.

United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines already had a similar policy in place for flights between Britain and the U.S., according to the New York Times.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.