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"Our main principle is to act fast, strong and now," he said. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned of a looming "state of emergency" due to the new variant as he widened a travel ban, announced Thursday, to all African countries except those in North Africa. The traveller and two other suspected cases have been placed in isolation. Israel announced Friday that it has detected its first case of the new variant in a traveller returning from Malawi.
The omicron variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travellers from South Africa.
In announcing the travel restrictions, he told reporters, "I've decided that we're going to be cautious." President Joe Biden said of the new variant. citizens or permanent residents, who will continue to be required to test negative before their travel. It said the restrictions will not apply to returning U.S. will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region beginning Monday. Japan has not yet opened up to foreign nationals. The Japanese government announced that starting Friday, Japanese nationals travelling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho will have to quarantine at government-dedicated accommodation for 10 days and take a COVID-19 test on Day 3, 6 and 10. He also said the global solution to curbing variants is to 'vaccinate the world.' 6:31 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will convene a coronavirus council on Sunday to consider evidence on the variant.Ħ:31 The world could know within a week whether current vaccines against COVID-19 are effective against the new coronavirus variant, B.1.1.529, says epidemiologist Dr. seems to have been rushed as even the World Health Organization is yet to advise on the next steps." In a statement posted online Friday, South Africa said that while it respects the right of other countries to protect their citizens, "the U.K.'s decision to temporarily ban South Africans from entering the U.K. announced it was banning flights from South Africa and five other countries in the region effective noon on Friday, and said anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test. Travel restriction controversyĮven before that announcement, other countries had already moved to stop air travel from southern Africa. On Friday, the World Health Organization declared B.1.1.529 a variant of concern and named it omicron, following a meeting of its technical working group.