US to lift travel restrictions on 8 South African countries

Washington: United States of America will lift the travel restrictions imposed on eight southern African countries last month following the discovery of Omicron variant of Covid-19. White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz announced that US President Joe Biden will lift the restrictions on December 31.

Mr Munoz noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the restrictions be lifted. The Biden administration announced the



restrictions on South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi last month to try and tame the spread of the omicron variant.

Meanwhile, the US is rolling out new measures to fight Omicron by providing an additional 580 million US Dollar from the American Rescue Plan Act to support seven partner multilateral organizations who are working tirelessly in the global fight against coronavirus.