WASHINGTON: The US government on Monday will stop conducting enhanced screening of passengers on inbound international flights for Covid-19, Yahoo News has reported. 

The US government had ordered screening operations at select airports since January, when the first cases of Covid-19 emerged from Wuhan, China. Since March, all international flights from select high-risk countries, including much of Europe and China, have been funneled through 15 designated airports in the United States.

As of Monday, however, international flights will no longer be funneled into select airports for screening purposes and all screenings will come to a halt, Yahoo News said, quoting sources.

All screenings and rerouting of select international flights will cease at exactly 12:01 a.m. on Monday, 14 September.

The orders to cease prescreening operations came from the White House, with strict orders to keep the information secret until a public announcement is made.

There are concerns that the White House order to shut down the airport screenings for inbound international passengers comes amid rising Covid-19 cases and deaths in America. Experts have warned of a potential second wave of the pandemic this fall.

Health screeners

Currently, passengers upon arrival in the country are sent to health screeners who take their temperatures and conduct a basic health screening. After the health screening, passengers proceed through passport control and customs.

One advantage of the screening is that travellers provide contact information, which can be used for contact tracing for infections. It won’t be possible now to contact passengers on a flight who may have potentially been exposed to Covid-19 infections.

The report further said that, behind the scenes, various agencies involved in the airport screening operations are working frantically to prepare for Monday’s shutdown.

There are several agencies involved in aspects of the screenings, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security. Most screenings are administered at the airports by AMR, a Dallas contractor.