The US on Monday reopens its land and air borders to foreign visitors who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, ending 20 months of restrictions on travel that separated families, harmed tourism and strained diplomatic ties.
The ban, imposed by former president Donald Trump after March 2020 and upheld by his successor, Joe Biden, has been widely criticised and become emblematic of the upheaval caused by the pandemic.
The restrictions were particularly unpopular in Europe and US neighbours Canada and Mexico.
To slow the spread of the coronavirus, US borders were closed after March 2020 to travellers from large parts of the world, including the EU, Britain and China, India and Brazil. Overland visitors from Mexico and Canada were also banned.
The months of restrictions affecting hundreds of millions of people caused personal and economic suffering during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It's been so hard," Alison Henry, 63, told AFP. "I just want to see my son."
The British woman plans to fly on Monday to see her son in New York after 20 months of separation.
Families on both sides of the Atlantic are eager to finally reunite with their loved ones.
Although travel from the US to Europe has been possible since summer, foreign US residents holding certain visas had no guarantee of being able to re-enter the country.
To cope with surging demand, airlines have increased the number of transatlantic flights and plan to use larger planes.
Along the border with Mexico, many cities in the US states of Texas and California have faced economic struggles because of anti-Covid trade restrictions.
Canada to Florida
Meanwhile, Canadian seniors will be able to resume their annual car trips to Florida to escape the bitter northern winters.
But the cost of the PCR tests Canada is requiring for cross-border travel – up to $250 each – can be prohibitive.
Ann Patchett, an Ontario resident, told the Ottawa Citizen that it will cost $500 for her and her husband to go south to visit family.
"Do you want to hug your children? Do you want to tuck your grandchildren into bed? It's very frustrating," Ms Patchett said.
New York congressman Brian Higgins, whose district touches the Canadian border and includes the US side of Niagara Falls, will on Monday join mayors from both countries to call on Canada to drop its testing requirement.
Lifting the travel ban will affect more than 30 countries. But entry into the US will not be totally unregulated.
Vaccination status
Authorities plan to closely monitor travellers' vaccination status and will still require them to present negative Covid-19 test results.
The US, from Monday, will require air passengers to be fully vaccinated and tested within three days before travel. Airlines will be required to put in place a contact-tracing system.
The land border opening will happen in two phases.
Starting on Monday, vaccines will be required for "non-essential" trips such as family visits or tourism, although unvaccinated travellers will still be allowed into the country for "essential" trips, as they have been for the past 18 months.
A second phase, starting in early January, will require all visitors to be fully vaccinated to enter the US by land, no matter the reason for their trip.
US health authorities have said all vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organisation would be accepted for entry by air.
At the moment, this includes the AstraZeneca-Oxford, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Covaxin, Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.
The US has not yet commented on the increase in Covid-19 cases in Europe.
'Grave concern' over Europe
The WHO has expressed "grave concern" over the rising pace of infections in Europe, warning that the current trajectory could mean "another half a million Covid-19 deaths" by February.
But US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Sunday told ABC that he was "cautiously optimistic about where we are.
"We can't take our foot off the accelerator until we're at the finish line," Dr Murthy said.
But in Berlin, Elisabeth Zours, 51, is ready to roll.
A lifelong Rolling Stones fan, Ms Zours had to miss a St Louis show by the rock super group in September because of Covid-19 restrictions and was "frustrated" by the slow US reopening.
Now she plans to make up for lost time.
"I've got tickets for four [US] concerts," Ms Zours said. "Their music is like a good friend."
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo and dual electric motors
Power: 300hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,500-3,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.0L/100km
Price: from Dh199,900
On sale: now
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
Mobile phone packages comparison
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
