New virus variant
USA: Restrictions on entry from southern Africa
Travelers at Johannesburg Airport. Symbol picture photo: Jerome Delay / AP / dpa
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The USA are also reacting to the new virus variant, which the WHO has classified as “worrying”. Only certain groups of people are allowed to enter from eight countries in southern Africa.
The US government will also restrict entry from southern Africa due to a new variant of the coronavirus. This is a precautionary measure, the White House said on Friday.
This affects entries from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. Several European states had previously announced such restrictions or the suspension of flights.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classified the new Corona variant Omikron (B.1.1.529), which had initially been identified in South Africa, as “worrying” on Friday.
The US restrictions would not apply to incoming American citizens, people with permanent residence permits and other exceptional cases, it said from the White House. It was initially unclear when the entry restrictions would apply. In the past, these had to be decreed by a presidential decree. At first that had not happened yet.