Passengers boarding Newark-bound flights from London required to test negative for COVID-19
Passengers boarding flights from London Heathrow Airport this week will be required to test negative for COVID-19 before boarding a flight to Newark Liberty International Airport.
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Dec 29, 2020, 11:35 PM
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Updated 1,600 days ago
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Travelers leaving London are required to test negative for the coronavirus before boarding a flight to Newark Liberty International Airport.
The new travel restriction started Monday after a new, more contagious form of COVID-19 was detected in the United Kingdom.
Boston resident Lyvia Laurent arrived at the airport Tuesday after visiting her boyfriend in the country's capital.
"A day after I got there, we entered into a Tier 4, which meant that everything was shutting down," Laurent says. "The malls, restaurants, everything. It was a ghost town."
She tells News 12 that her flight back to America was nearly empty, estimating around 45 people were on the plane that has a capacity for more than 300 travelers.
Others coming from London to Newark says they had to scramble to get tested, spending extra money and time to get back.
"It was kind of a challenging," says Julia Lindsey of New York. "The process was unorganized and a bit of a mess."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about six of 10 new cases in London are caused by the faster spreading variant of the virus.
Colorado became the first state to announce a case of the new variant in the United States on Tuesday.
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