The new travel restrictions announced by President Biden today will give the US federal government more time to investigate the new Omicron variant that has emerged in South Africa, officials said. know. But not much.
Earlier today, the Biden administration announced it would restrict travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi, starting Monday. The authorities stressed that they acted on advice from Dr Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after the World Health Organization labeled newly discovered stress like a “variant of concern. ”
Inside government, It is inevitable that the new variant will appear in the United States at some point, but the new restrictions will give federal health agencies and their global partners more time to learn about the variant, including the severity of the disease it causes. According to current thinking, officials do not believe this version is available in the US.
Officials acted quickly to implement the new restrictions. While the variant’s state of emergency was flagged a few weeks ago, it’s only in recent days that they’ve learned how serious it is.
American officials are expected to speak with scientists in South Africa again on Sunday.
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