New Telegraph

Omicron: US to lift travel ban on South Africa, 7 others on Dec 31

The United States will next week lift the travel ban imposed on several Southern African nations when COVID – 19 Omicron variant was first detected, officials said on Friday. Countries around the world restricted travel from southern Africa after the variant was detected in South Africa, which reported Omicron to the World Health Organisation on November 24. WHO and the United Nations spoke out against the travel bans, and officials in South Africa said they were being punished for identifying the strain and being transparent.

“The restrictions gave us time to understand Omicron and we know our existing vaccines “The restrictions gave us time to understand Omicron and we know our existing vaccines work against Omicron, esp boosted,” Kevin Munoz, the White House assistant press secretary, said on Twitter. He said the travel ban would be lifted on December 31. A senior White House official added that with Omicron present across the United States and globally, international travelers from the eight affected countries would not have a significant impact on US cases.

“During the travel pause President Biden reduced the time for pre-departure testing to one day opposed to three days… travelers from these eight countries will be subject to these same strict protocols,” the official said. The ban applied to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. Holiday festivities are expected to further drive up COVID -19 cases in the United States where the heavily mutated Omicron variant is pushing some stretched hospitals and exhausted health workers to the brink. The seven-day average of new daily cases is about to pass the Delta peak seen in September, according to non-profit website Covid Act Now. Intensive care units are running at near-capacity in some states.

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