The White House has announced the withdrawal of travel restrictions to eight southern African countries on New Year’s Eve.
The restrictions were, imposed last month, in the wake of the COVID omicron variant. On November 29th the US banned the entry of nearly all non-U.S. citizens who had recently been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi to curb the spread of the new variant.
White House spokesman Kevin Munoz explained that the travel ban was imposed as per the recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After the necessary study by scientists, they have concluded that the current vaccinations are effective in blunting the impact of the new variant. The restrictions he said gave time to understand the behavior of the virus.
The US has seen rising cases of Omicron, including among the vaccinated, but a huge majority of those being hospitalized are unvaccinated.
