US revokes travel bans on southern African nations
US President Joe Biden revoked travel restrictions on eight southern African nations, including South Africa
The proclamation repeals the ban as of 31 December. The travel restrictions had been criticised across the globe, described by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres as ‘travel apartheid’. Biden administration officials repeatedly defended the move as an action to give the US more time to understand the variant and its spread.
"The travel restrictions imposed by that proclamation are no longer necessary to protect the public health," Biden said in the new proclamation.
Vaccinated people protected from hospitalisation
Scientists have determined that people vaccinated against Covid-19 ‘are protected against severe disease and hospitalisation from the Omicron variant’. The restrictions had cut off most travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.
The eight countries will now be subject to the same travel protocols the US has imposed on other countries, requiring full vaccinations and that all travellers get a negative Covid-19 test within one day of departure to the US.