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The outgoing US President Donald Trump has ordered an end to the entry ban for foreigners from large parts of Europe to the USA.
The restrictions on travelers from the Schengen area, Great Britain and Ireland as well as Brazil would be lifted on January 26, according to a ruling distributed by the White House on Monday evening (local time).
Trump pointed out that from this date on, proof of a negative corona test would be required on all international flights to the USA before departure.
The entry bans for foreigners from China and Iran remain in place, according to him.
Trump's term of office ends this Wednesday with the swearing-in of his successor Joe Biden.
Biden has made fighting the pandemic one of its most important immediate goals.
It is unclear whether Biden will reverse Trump's decision.
The pandemic is still out of control in the US.
Since the first case became known about a year ago, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University, more than 24 million coronavirus infections have been detected in the USA.
Around 400,000 people were killed.
Trump had imposed the entry ban for foreigners in mid-March because of the rapid spread of the corona virus in several European countries.
Currently, travelers from the Schengen area, Great Britain and Ireland are not allowed to enter the USA with a few exceptions.
Trump had also issued strict entry bans for foreigners from China and Iran and recently introduced extensive entry restrictions for people from Brazil.
Travel across the US border to the neighboring countries Canada in the north and Mexico in the south are also restricted because of the pandemic.
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The US health authority CDC announced last week that a negative corona test will be mandatory for flights to the USA from January 26th.
The regulation will apply to all international flights to the USA, regardless of the place of departure and the citizenship or visa of the travelers.
The order also applies to Americans who are exempt from the entry bans imposed by Trump.
If a passenger could not prove a negative test result or a survived Covid infection, "the airline must refuse boarding," it said in the message.
The so-called PCR test, with which the virus is to be detected, must therefore be carried out in the three days before departure.
The health authority also urges all travelers to retest three to five days after arriving in the United States and to stay at home seven days after the trip.
However, these are recommendations, not a legally binding provision.
When the measure was announced, CDC boss Robert Redfield admitted: "Tests do not eliminate every risk." In combination with the other precautionary measures, travel is safer.
In view of the new and probably more contagious variant of the coronavirus, which has so far mainly spread in Great Britain, the USA has been demanding a negative corona test when entering from there since the end of December - which is possible for foreigners with a special permit.
Individual cases of the new variant have already been detected in numerous US states.