President Joe Biden announced that they have imposed a travel restriction to the USA for 8 countries in the south of Africa due to the new Corona virus variant.
A Biden administration official stated that the new measure does not ban flights and does not cover US citizens and legal residents of the US.
The restrictions will come into effect from Monday, November 29, and will apply to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Esvatini, Mozambique and Malawi.
“As a precautionary step until we learn more, I have ordered additional restrictions on air travel from South Africa and 7 other countries,” Biden said in a written statement.
“These new restrictions will go into effect on November 29,” Biden said. As we move forward in this process, we will continue to follow the advice of science and my healthcare team.”
Vaccination message from Biden
Emphasizing that the new variant found in South Africa has revealed the necessity of vaccination on a global scale to end the pandemic more clearly than ever before, Biden called on countries to agree on the removal of intellectual property protections on Covid vaccines at the World Trade Organization’s next week’s meeting. Expressing that this way, vaccines can be produced on a global scale, Biden said that the latest developments show once again the importance of acting quickly on this issue.
Speaking to reporters on the island of Nantucket, where he spent the Thanksgiving holiday, Biden said that they do not currently plan to introduce a new vaccination requirement after the detection of the new variant. “We don’t have much information about the variant, except that it is a major cause for concern. I thought we had to be cautious,” Biden said.
An official from the US administration also reiterated that the restrictions were “introduced as a precautionary measure due to the new Covid-19 variant circulating in South Africa”.
The management official explained that the decision on the new restrictions was made “on the advice of the President’s Chief Medical Advisor and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)”.
New countries can be added to the list
A second administration official reported that the restrictions are expected to take effect from midnight on Monday, East Coast time, and that the decision was taken after a high-level meeting within the administration on the subject today. The official said that if the variant spreads, new countries could be added to the list.
The Biden administration plans to hold briefings with American airlines on the new restrictions today as well.
Biden last January imposed a travel ban for most non-US citizens, also from South Africa, as part of an effort to contain the spread of a new variant of Covid-19.
On November 8, the US administration lifted travel restrictions for 33 countries, including South Africa, China, most countries in Europe, India, Brazil, Ireland, the UK and Iran.