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THE GOVERNMENT of the United States (US) will lift the entry ban for travelers from eight countries in the southern African region starting December 31. The eight countries are South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.
US citizens as well as foreign nationals who were barred from entry due to previously being in one of the eight South African countries will be allowed to re-enter the US, with flights departing after 12 p.m. December 31.
Previously, a number of countries had restricted borders for new arrivals traveling from southern Africa. The move was taken after the Omicron COVID-19 variant was detected in South Africa. The variant was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on 24 November.
“This decision was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The restrictions give us time to understand Omicron and we know the vaccines currently available work against Omicron,” said White House spokesman Kevin Munoz.
The CDC recommends lifting travel restrictions because it considers that the restrictions will not have a significant impact on reducing the increase in COVID-19 cases in the US. They believe that the existing vaccine, coupled with booster injections will be effective against the new variant, without having to develop a special Omicron vaccine.
“This travel restriction has served its purpose. It gives time to analyze the variance,” a White House official said.
Previously, the US had just lifted travel restrictions for arrivals from South Africa on November 8 which had been in place since late January 2021 to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. After the appearance of the Omicron variant, the US has again tightened testing rules for foreign tourists and extended the requirement to wear masks on airplanes and at airports until March 18.
Before the tightening rules were updated, foreign travelers arriving in the US and having been vaccinated had to show a negative test result obtained within three days of their departure day. Meanwhile, under the new rules, arrivals are required to show a negative test result one day before departure.
The CDC also asked airlines to provide the names of passengers who had traveled in southern Africa in recent days, so that local health agencies could carry out contact tracing.
Based on Worldometers.info data, the total positive cases in the United States have crossed 53.22 million. The daily cases reported in the last kick are in the range of 200,000. Based on data from the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), Omicron cases in the US have reached 7,341, or the second highest after the UK. [sources/photo special]
