Countries ban travellers from southern Africa over Covid variant 'omicron'

New Delhi, Nov 27: The new South Africa covid variant has sent a chill across the globe as nations raced to halt air travel, as it posed greater risks than delta, which is the world's most prevalent variant.

In an emergency meeting, The World Health Organization panel named the variant "omicron" and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern.

The EU and UK were among those who moved to impose travel restrictions on a group of southern African nations, while US joined later as scientists sounded alarm over highly transmissible covid variant.

United States

The White House said the U.S. will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region beginning Monday. It did not give immediate details except to say the restrictions will not apply to returning U.S. citizens or permanent residents, who will continue to be required to test negative before their travel.

European Union

The 27-nation European Union suspended air travel from southern Africa, and stocks tumbled in Asia, Europe and the United States.

United Kingdom

The U.K. banned flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries at noon on Friday and announced that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.

Canada

Canada banned the entry of all foreigners who have traveled to southern Africa in the last two weeks.

Japan

The Japanese government announced that Japanese nationals traveling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho will have to quarantine at government-dedicated accommodations for 10 days and take three COVID-19 tests during that time.

France

France suspends all flights coming from southern Africa for 48 hours, in reaction to a new coronavirus variant detected in some African countries.