America lifts travel restrictions on 8 African countries next December 31
The White House announced today, Friday, that it is lifting travel restrictions that it imposed on eight countries in southern Africa last month after the discovery of the Omicron mutant.
According to White House Assistant Press Secretary Kevin Munoz, President Biden will lift restrictions on December 31, just one month after the ban was first announced, and Munoz noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended lifting the restrictions.
"The limitations have given us time to understand the omicron mutant and we know our current vaccines work against it, and it has been boosted," he added.
Earlier, the Biden administration announced restrictions on South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi last month to try to tame the spread of Omicron.
A senior administration official said the CDC eventually recommended lifting restrictions because of progress health experts have made in understanding the new mutation, and because of the extent to which the strain has spread worldwide.
President Biden said on Tuesday that he was "considering reversing" the travel restrictions, telling reporters "I'll talk to my team in the next couple of days," and reiterated that the administration implemented the ban "to see how much time we've had before Omicron gets here so we can start working out what we need to do." by looking at what is happening in other countries."
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