The United States will lift the travel restrictions it imposed on eight African countries on December 31 to stop the spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus, a White House spokesman reported on Twitter this Friday.
Currently travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Mozambique and Malawi are prohibited from entering the United States, a decision announced on November 26 “out of extreme caution,” recalls the White House.
The uprising is due to “two essential reasons,” says a statement transmitted by a senior White House official.
First, because it is known that “current vaccines effectively protect against a serious form (of covid-19) related to omicron, especially after a booster dose.”
And also because “international travelers from these countries will not have a significant impact on the number of cases in the United States,” because the omicron variant has already spread widely in the country.
The administration of US President Joe Biden received a shower of criticism for having imposed and maintained these travel restrictions that affect only southern Africa despite the fact that the new variant of the coronavirus was spreading at high speed around the world.
