US, Canada and EU close borders to southern African countries due to omicron variant

The United States, Canada and the European Union (EU) announced on Friday the closure of borders to travelers from southern African countries in response to the appearance of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The government of Joe Biden He said that the people of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (or Swaziland), Mozambique and Malawi will be banned from entering the United States as of Monday.

Only citizens and permanent residents of USA they will be able to enter the country from those nations, said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The policy was implemented as a precaution in light of a new variant of COVID-19 circulating in southern Africa”He explained, and said that experts and US public health officials are working quickly to have more data on omicron.

“President Biden has promised to take all necessary steps to keep Americans safe and defeat the pandemic, and this was a step recommended by the US government medical experts and the COVID-19 Response Team.”, he assured.

Canada and Europe They also prohibited this Friday from entering the country of travelers from the same southern African nations, except for Malawi.

“We must act quickly to protect Canadians”, the Minister of Health explained at a press conference, Jean Yves Duclos, when reporting restrictions for the seven countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated on Friday that the B.1.1.529 strain of coronavirus, first notified by South Africa on 24 November, is a “Variant of concern”, and christened it omicron.

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