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US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that this week he will lift the ban on travel from South Africa and other countries in the region.
The ban was imposed due to fears of the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which was first detected in South Africa in November.
“Travel restrictions are no longer necessary to protect public health,” Biden said, adding that the lifting of the ban would take effect on Friday, January 1, 2022.
President Biden said he made the decision based on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He added that US researchers, “in collaboration with South African scientists who initially reported this variant, have made substantial progress in understanding the Omicron variant.”
While Omicroni is distributed in over 100 countries around the world, including the US, the level of threat from this variant is considered low compared to the fears previously held by officials, as “experts have determined that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are “Protected from serious illness,” said President Biden.
States around the world imposed restrictions on states in southern Africa after South Africa announced the detection of the new Omicron variant on November 24th.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations have been opposed to travel bans, and officials in South Africa have said that with these bans, they have been punished for identifying the Omicron variant and being transparent about such a finding.
The U.S. ban was applied to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatin, Mozambique and Malawi.
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