With travel restrictions being imposed by different countries because of fear of the New Covid Variant Omicron spread, the United States has also joined in with banning South Africa travel. On Friday, the World Health Organization showed concerns regarding the new variant and said that it might be deadlier than the previous stains, so all the countries should take precautionary measures.
The risk of reinfections is also increasing, and from the evidence, it is seen that people who had already been vaccinated are again infected with this new variant. At least four of such cases have already been confirmed. This new variant is called omicron by the WHO, and they say that its spread is way more than any other variant of coronavirus because of its excessive mutations. The WHO experts assessed the virus and agreed with all these discoveries about it.
Joe Biden Administrations’s senior officers mentioned in a statement that the countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa should be restricted with a travel ban in the United States of America.
Those who have tested negative for the new strain and are permanent residents or citizens of the United States will only be permitted to return to the United States. Other than these, no one would be allowed to travel to these states mentioned above. Rules have been decided, and from Monday onwards, they will be implemented in the United States.
This new variant known as omicron has forced many countries to impose travel bans on seven countries along with South Africa.
WHO stated that the provinces of South Africa are noticing an increase in the new variant’s infection cases. On the 24th of November, South Africa’s first case of this new variant, omicron, was reported. WHO mentioned in a statement that it gave on Friday that since the detection of the new variant, the COVID 19 infection cases are seen to be spiking too. It is possible that these two events are related.
INITIALly, many were expecting the beta variant to be severe and rapidly spreading, but it turned to be less dangerous, Now with the new variant, it is hard to tell whether it would turn out to be deadlier than other variants or would be the least harmful. For now, the delta variant and omicron are both considered to be in the same category.
An increase in efforts should be made to understand the impacts of new variants through the process of genome sequencing—the WHO is requesting the countries to make Careful of the omicron.
As soon as possible, the vaccine booster shots should be made available to all Americans, and they are being requested to get these booster shots. The importance of vaccinations has to be highlighted, especially for the new omicron variant prevention, stated President Joe Biden.
Joe Phaahla, who is the health minister of South Africa, stated that in the most populous province Gauteng, the new variant is rapidly spreading.
Also Read: New Covid Variant From South Africa To Have Way More Mutations Than Any Other Variant