News

Biden restricts travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday

Follow advice from the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauciand the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Biden administration will restrict travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

On Friday night, Biden signed a formal proclamation restricting the travel of people “physically present” in the countries for a “14-day period prior to entering or attempting to enter the United States.” .”

The statement includes a list of those exempt from the new restrictions, including U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and noncitizens who are spouses of citizens or permanent residents.

It said it would remain in effect until terminated by the President and would not apply to any flights scheduled to the United States departing before 12:01 a.m. EST on Monday.

The decision to restrict travel comes as the federal government is still trying to learn more about the new variant, dubbed Omicron. They needed to see more sequences, but after discussing what they had seen so far, officials decided to halt travel from other countries out of concern about what they did not know.

Mr. Biden was briefed on Friday about the novel coronavirus variant circulating in southern Africa, he said in the announcement.

He told reporters later on Friday of the decision: “I’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious.”

“We don’t know much about the variant except that it’s a huge concern and seems to spread quickly, and I spent about half an hour this morning with my Covid team led by Dr Fauci, so so that’s the decision we made,” the president said.

Officials said the policy was taken out of an abundance of caution as the World Health Organization has now identified it as a worrying variant.

“Our scientists and public health officials are working rapidly to learn more about this variant,” an official said.

White House contacts airlines

A senior Biden administration official said earlier on Friday that several steps must be taken before the restrictions begin on Monday, including the official US statement, agency Transportation Security Administration and coordination with airlines.

“This is a quick timeline but there are things that need to be done first,” the official said.

An airline source told CNN that airline executives and the White House were in touch on Friday, prior to the announcement of the new travel restrictions.

Another source familiar with the situation said there was a call Friday afternoon with the federal government and the airline industry. The federal government is working to draft a formal directive that includes guidelines for airlines that will take effect shortly after midnight Monday morning.

The trade group for major US airlines said it had “many unanswered questions” about the upcoming restrictions. US Airways spokesman Carter Yang told CNN the company is in contact with authorities and believes travel decisions must be “rooted in science.”

“We remain in contact with the US government as the specifics are unknown at this time and there are many unanswered questions,” Yang said. “In light of this rapidly evolving situation, it is vital that decisions by the US government regarding international travel restrictions and requirements are rooted in science.”

South Africa’s Health Minister on Thursday announced the discovery of this variant, which appears to be spreading rapidly in parts of the country.

Buy time

The travel restrictions will give the US federal government more time to investigate the new variant – but not much, officials said.

Inside government, it is inevitable that a new variant will emerge in the United States at some point, but the new restrictions will be for federal health agencies and partners. their global more time to learn about variations, including disease severity. reason. 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.

US officials are expected to speak with scientists in South Africa again, possibly on Sunday.

Currently, there is “no indication” that the new variant is present in the United States – and US scientists are working closely with colleagues in South Africa to learn more about the emerging variant, Fauci , Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar before the travel restrictions were announced on Friday.

“Right now, we’re documenting together with our South African colleagues to get a situation where you can really examine it firsthand. So right now you’re talking about It’s like a red flag that this could be an issue — but we don’t know,” he said.

“You want to find out if it evades the vaccine we’re making,” Fauci said. “You’re prepared to do everything that needs to be done to protect the American public, but you want to make sure that there’s a basis for doing that.”

Several other countries – including the UK – have banned flights from South Africa and surrounding African countries in response to the emergence of this variant.

The travel restrictions do not apply to US citizens and lawful permanent residents. As with all international travelers, they must still test negative before traveling.

This story was updated with additional developments on Friday.

CNN’s Allie Malloy, Jeff Zeleny, Gregory Wallace and Pete Muntean contributed to this report.

.

Source link

news7g

News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button