Posted on 12/24/21
| News Source: The Hill
The White House on Friday announced that it is lifting the travel restrictions it imposed on eight southern African countries last month following the discovery of the COVID-19 omicron variant.
President Biden will lift the restrictions on Dec. 31, just one month after the bans were first announced, according to White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz.
Munoz noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the restrictions be lifted.
“On Dec. 31, @POTUS will lift the temporary travel restrictions on Southern Africa countries. This decision was recommended by @CDCgov,” Munoz wrote on Twitter.
“The restrictions gave us time to understand Omicron and we know our existing vaccines work against Omicron, esp boosted,” he added.
The Biden administration announced the restrictions on South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi last month to try and tame the spread of the omicron variant.
A senior administration official told CNN that the CDC ultimately recommended lifting the restrictions because of progress health experts have made in understanding the omicron variant, and because of how much the strain has spread across the globe.
“First, our nation's health officials have made progress in understanding Omicron; importantly, our existing vaccines are effective against severe disease with Omicron, especially if you're boosted. Second, with Omicron now present across the US and globally, international travelers from these countries will not have a significant impact on US cases,” the official told CNN.