U.S. issues 'Do Not Travel' advisory for eight African countries

Reuters2021-11-28

(Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and State Department on Saturday advised against travel to eight southern African countries after the White House announced new travel restrictions in response to a new COVID-19 variant.

The CDC raised its travel recommendation to "Level Four: Very High" for South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana while the State Department issued parallel "Do Not Travel" advisories Saturday. On Monday, the CDC had lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory for South Africa to "Level 1: Low" from "Level 3: High"

Of the eight countries, only Botswana was previously listed as "Level 4."

Omicron, dubbed a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease, although experts do not know yet if it will cause more or less severe COVID-19 compared to other strains. It could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant's mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments are effective against it.

The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on Friday as investors worried that Omicron could stall a global recovery from the nearly two-year pandemic.

The new variant prompted the White House to announce Friday it would bar nearly all foreign nationals who have been in any of eight countries within the last 14 days from flying to the United States effective Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET (0500 GMT). Travelers on flights that depart before that time will be allowed to land in the United States. But foreign nationals must be vaccinated and have tested negative within three days.

Britain detected two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday, even as Australia and other countries joined nations imposing restrictions on travel from southern Africa in an effort to stop its spread.

The variant was first discovered in South Africa and had also since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

A U.S. official told Reuters Friday the Biden administration could also add other countries to the travel curb list if the variant spreads. The United States only lifted travel restrictions on South Africa and 32 other countries on Nov. 8.

免责声明:本文观点仅代表作者个人观点,不构成本平台的投资建议,本平台不对文章信息准确性、完整性和及时性做出任何保证,亦不对因使用或信赖文章信息引发的任何损失承担责任。

精彩评论

  • KYHBKO
    2021-11-29
    KYHBKO
    let's monitor the situation. vaccine makers updates will be crucial.
  • PearlynCSY
    2021-11-29
    PearlynCSY
    Trump politicised Covid-19. Now Biden is still keeping many of the policies designed by the Trump Administration. 
  • LohYK
    2021-11-29
    LohYK
    Be prepared for another wave...
  • Huazai
    2021-11-29
    Huazai
    [Smile] 
  • robot1234
    2021-11-28
    robot1234
    The saddest news is the US and her allies continue to politicise Covid-19 instead of leading the world to overcome the pandemic
    • robot1234
      Google search and there are hundreds of int'l reports on this matter
    • robot1234
      Google search and there are hundreds of int'l reports on this
    • GhostKnight
      Could you elaborate how are they politicising it?
  • 慢的老人
    2021-11-28
    慢的老人
    So is it fair to say Pres Biden and his Democrats are racist for banning travellers from Africa? They said the same thing about Pres Trump last year [贱笑] 
发表看法
41