The United States will gradually lift travel restrictions imposed on the Southern African countries of Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe citing their “progress in democracy.”
The “united states travel restrictions” is a change that the US government has made. The US will lift travel restrictions on Southern African countries.
The Biden administration announced this morning that a current ban on non-U.S. travelers from eight African countries, which was imposed on November 29 in the name of “abundance of caution” and in the hopes of preventing the highly infectious Omicron variant from migrating to America, will be lifted.
Foreign nationals who have spent the preceding 14 days in any of six southern African nations are now prohibited from entering the United States, but the temporary restriction will be removed at 12:01 a.m. ET on December 31, according to a senior White House official.
ADVERTISING
What’s Hot Right Now
South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi are among the nations impacted by the temporary restrictions. The order, however, did not prohibit American citizens and legal residents returning from certain nations from reentering the US, nor did it block flights to the area.
On Friday, White House Assistant Press Secretary Kevin Munoz tweeted the news, saying that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recommended lifting the travel restrictions because they wouldn’t have a significant impact on Omicron’s spread in the US, given the high levels of community transmission already in place.
“The limits allowed us time to learn Omicron, and we know our current vaccinations, especially boosted, work against Omicron,” Munoz tweeted. “This travel suspension has fulfilled its goal,” a White House official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. It provided us more time to comprehend the science and evaluate the variety.”
“This was not designed to keep Omicron out,” the official said of the temporary travel restrictions. We knew we wouldn’t be able to pull it off. The goal was to limit the number of patients that came in during the first few days and weeks.”
Southern Africa is seen in close-up on a globe map. (picture by omersukrugoksu/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Medical specialists currently believe that existing COVID-19 vaccinations and booster doses are extremely efficient against the new strain, and that no need to produce an Omicron-specific vaccine to prevent it, according to Reuters.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top immunologist and the White House’s Chief Medical Advisor, said earlier this week that the decision to relax travel restrictions from the area likely occurred, “because we already have a lot of illness in our country… We’re allowing individuals from other nations to enter who are as as infected as or more infected than the countries of southern Africa.”
The unidentified official further stressed that the limits were always meant to be temporary, and that lifting them after just four weeks would send a good message to any other countries where subsequent variations may develop. It “sends a fairly obvious signal that there won’t be a substantial punishment” for revealing information on any new variations discovered, according to the person.
Watch This Video-
The “list of countries banning travel from south africa” is a list of countries that have imposed restrictions on South African citizens. The US government announced that they will lift these restrictions.
Related Tags
- current u.s. travel bans
- travel bans for u.s. citizens 2021
- travel restrictions by country
- u.s. travel restrictions by country
- south africa travel restrictions update
