The US tightens travel rules and the world closes more and more to the Omicron variant

The US tightens travel rules and the world closes more and more to the Omicron variant

The United States is moving to require that all travelers entering the country by air show a negative test for Covid-19 taken a day before departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday. at night.

Back-testing on confirmed Covid-19 infections in travelers to Nigeria Omicron was identified from a sample collected in October, the Nigerian Center for Disease Control said, without naming the country of origin.

South Africa first reported the variant a week ago and many countries have responded by banning travel from there and other places deemed more exposed amid uncertainty about how easily the variant can spread and whether it can evade the protection of the vaccine.

Data from other countries already show that the variant was circulating before it was officially identified in South Africa and cases have appeared around the world..

Australia said at least two people visited various locations in Sydney while they were likely infectious and Denmark He said that an infected person had participated in a large concert.

Japan, which had already banned the arrival of foreigners, reported its second case of the new variant of Covid-19 and said it will expand travel restrictions.

Hong Kong added Japan, Portugal and Sweden to its travel restrictions, while Uzbekistan it said it will suspend flights with Hong Kong and South Africa. Malaysia temporarily banned travelers from eight African countries and said Britain and the Netherlands could join the list.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that “generic travel bans will not prevent international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods “, while advising postponing their trips to people who do not feel well, are at risk, are 60 years or older or are not vaccinated.

Global stocks left the lows hit the day before on Wednesday after comments by Moderna’s chief executive that raised doubts about the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines against Ómicron.

Since then, health authorities have offered assurances and reiterated their calls for people to get vaccinated, saying the doses are very likely still to keep people from getting seriously ill.

The European Union (EU) brought forward the launch of the vaccine for children between five and 11 years old by a week.

London and Washington expanded their reinforcement programs in response to the new variant, which has highlighted the disparity between mass vaccination in rich nations and low inoculation in the developing world.

Some 56 countries are reportedly implementing travel measures to protect against the new variant of Covid-19 as of November 28, the WHO said.

Germany, which is fighting an increase in infections and deaths from Covid-19, reported that four fully vaccinated people tested positive for Omicron in the south of the country, although they had moderate symptoms.

Source From: Ambito

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts