US lifts Omicron-related travel restrictions imposed on 8 southern African countries

The United States has lifted travel restrictions imposed against eight southern African countries due to the Omicron variant. As per restrictions, foreign travellers were barred from entering the US if they had been in any of these countries in the past 14 days.

Additionally, they required to produce a negative test report done not more than a day before their flight, regardless of vaccination status. The United States announced that travelling between the US and southern Africa can resume on December 31. This comes one month after the US suspended all flights from the region following the announcement of the Omicron variant.

President Joe Biden's new order lifts travel restrictions from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi. "Having learned more about the Omicron variant in the past several weeks, the CDC now recommends lifting the travel restrictions," the US President said.

President Joe Biden signed a proclamation on Tuesday rescinding a previous order saying that the restrictions are no longer necessary to protect the public health. The highly contagious Omicron strain, which now accounts for the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases in the US was first detected by scientists in South Africa in late November. 

The United States enacted the travel restrictions on November 26 in an attempt to slow the spread of Omicron variant in the country. Since then this variant has become a dominant source of COVID-19 cases in the US, accounting for 22.5% of new cases for the week ending December 18.

Other countries that had previously announced travel bans against countries in southern Africa, including Canada, have also since dropped the travel restrictions.