White House Announces Travel Ban From 8 African Nations Due to Concerns Over New Variant

White House Announces Travel Ban From 8 African Nations Due to Concerns Over New Variant

The White House has announced that the U.S. will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday as a new coronavirus variant has emerged, officials told CNN.

This is transpiring as Wall Street has its worst day of trading in 2021 due to fears of the new variant emerging out of South Africa -- now named by the World Health organization as Omicron -- a variant of concern. 

According to CNN, acting on advice from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC, the Biden administration will restrict travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

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"The decision to restrict travel comes as the federal government is still attempting to learn more about the new variant. They need to see more sequencing, but after discussing what they've seen so far, officials decided to halt travel from these other countries out of concern about what they don't yet know. Biden was briefed today on the new coronavirus variant circulating in southern Africa, according to a White House official," reports CNN.