Following the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant, the UK has imposed new restrictions on travelers arriving from South Africa and other South African countries. The US is implementing similar restrictions starting Monday.
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Following the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant, the UK has imposed new restrictions on travelers arriving from South Africa and other South African countries. The US is implementing similar restrictions starting Monday.
Hollie Adams / Getty Images
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease physician and chief medical adviser to the president, said Sunday that it was inevitable that the omicron variant of the coronavirus would be detected in the US.
While no cases of the variant have been detected in the US to date, there have been cases detected in Botswana, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands, Australia and Hong Kong.
Fauci said on ABC’s: “As we all know, when you have a virus that has spread to many countries, it is bound to be here.” This week. “The question is: Are we going to prepare for it?”
The omicron variant was labeled a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday, making it the first variant to be labeled as such since the delta variant emerged earlier this year. .
Fauci emphasizes that a lot of the preparation for the omicron is similar to the one for the delta variant.
“If and when, and when, it gets here, hopefully we’ll be ready for it by enhancing our capacity through vaccines, masks – all the things we do and should do,” Fauci said.
Part of the concern around the omicron variant has to do with the variant’s mutations – it has more than any of its predecessors. More data is needed to know for sure, Fauci said, but “the mutation would suggest that it would be more contagious and that it could evade … maybe even the antibodies produced by the vaccine. “
But Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said there was “no reason to panic”.
Collins appeared on CNN’s State of the Union said he thinks those who have been vaccinated “will probably be fine,” but scientists will likely need two or three weeks to determine that.
Collins also emphasizes the need for everyone to be vaccinated and for those who are fully vaccinated to get a booster shot.
“The booster – it basically expands your immune system’s ability to recognize all these different mutant proteins it hasn’t seen before,” says Collins.
While both Fauci and Collins say it will take some time to determine the severity of the omicron variation, the US is placing New travel restrictions apply. The restrictions will go into effect on Monday.
