U.S. to restrict travel from South Africa, 7 other nations

WASHINGTON – The United States will restrict travel for non-U.S. citizens from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday, part of a global effort to stem the spread of the heavily mutated omicron variant of Covid-19, according to senior Biden administration officials.

In addition to South Africa, other countries included in the new restrictions are Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

There was no indication Friday of how long the bans will remain in place. President Joe Biden said in a statement that moving forward he will be “guided by what the science and my medical team advises.”

The decision came less than three weeks after the administration lifted pandemic travel restrictions on visitors from more than 30 countries, including South Africa.

Biden was briefed on the variant Friday by White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, as a growing list of countries issued their own travel bans.

Canada, the European Union and the U.K. all announced restrictions on travelers from southern Africa Friday, even as Belgian officials announced that several cases of omicron variant Covid had already been identified there.

Also on Friday, the World Health Organization assigned the newly identified variant the Greek letter omicron and formally recognized the strain, previously referred to as lineage B.1.1.529, as a “variant of concern.”

Health experts are deeply concerned about the transmissibility of the omicron variant given that it has an unusual constellation of mutations and a profile that is different from other variants of concern. It is not clear how severe infections would be for vaccinated patients.

It is feared a sharp upswing of Covid cases in South Africa’s Gauteng province — where the heavily mutated strain of the virus was first identified — could mean it has greater potential to escape prior immunity than other variants.

In a statement announcing the travel ban, Biden urged already immunized Americans to get their booster shots, and parents to take advantage of the new vaccine doses approved for children aged 5 to 11.

The emergence of this new strain in South Africa, Biden said, also serves to underscore the importance of making vaccines accessible to people all over the world. To that end, he urged members of the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property protections for Covid vaccines.

The designation of a new variant of concern coupled with mounting alarm from health officials sent global markets into a tailspin on Friday. Oil prices took heavy losses on the news.

Airline and other travel stocks plunged Friday. The fresh…