U.S. braces for Omicron, prepares for African country travel ban By

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials on Sunday said they were preparing for the likely appearance of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, with restrictions set to begin on Monday against travelers from eight southern African countries.

“Inevitably, it will be here,” although no cases have been detected yet, the nation’s top infectious disease official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told ABC News’ “This Week.”

He added that U.S. health officials would speak with their counterparts in South Africa later on Sunday, saying the flight curbs would give them more time to gather information and weigh possible action.

It “is to get us better prepared, to rev up on the vaccination, to be really ready for something that may not actually be a big deal, but we want to make sure that we’re prepared for the worst,” he separately told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program.

The new Omicron coronavirus variant, first discovered in South Africa https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japan-tighten-border-controls-s-africa-others-new-virus-variant-jiji-2021-11-26 and announced in recent days, has already been detected in a growing number of countries.

The United States must do “anything and everything” amid likely cases of the variant but it is “too early to say” whether new lockdowns or mandates are needed, Fauci added on ABC.

Potentially more contagious https://www.reuters.com/world/how-worried-should-we-be-about-omicron-variant-2021-11-27 than previous variants, Omicron has sparked worries worldwide, rattling markets and public-health experts who have long warned about ongoing changes to the novel coronavirus amid the race to vaccinate against it.

“It clearly is giving indication that it has the capability of transmitting rapidly. That’s the thing that’s causing us now to be concerned,” Fauci said on “Meet the Press.”

Its appearance stateside could threaten to undermine the nation’s recovery nearly two years after COVID-19’s emergence and further pressure local healthcare systems that have already felt the weight of the recent Delta variant.

Rising cases as colder weather forces more people indoors amid ongoing vaccine hesitancy that has left many people in some U.S. regions unprotected has also forced some hospital systems and U.S. states, including New York, to declare emergencies.

So far, 781,797 people have died in the United States from COVID since early 2020, the most of any country in the world, amid 48,288,375 infections, Reuters data show.

U.S. President Joe Biden, due to arrive back in Washington later on Sunday following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, has said he is being briefed on the variant.

Meanwhile, the United States is joining other…