President Biden Lifts Travel Ban on Eight Countries in Southern Africa

By Yehudit Garmaise

President Joe Biden has lifted the travel ban on eight South African countries that he issued 25 days ago, after the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa.

All foreign nationals who have visited South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi will once again be allowed on US-bound flights that depart after 12:01am, Eastern Standard Time, on Dec. 31.

The US had previously lifted COVID-related travel restrictions on South Africa on Nov. 8, however, after an outbreak of the newly-detected Omicron variant in southern African countries on Nov. 29, President Biden quickly disallowed the admittance of nearly all non-U.S. citizens who had recently been in the previously-restricted eight countries from the southern continent of Africa.

Biden’s travel restrictions did not prevent American citizens from returning home after visiting countries in southern Africa.

“This travel pause has served its purpose,” a senior official of the Biden administration told Reuters. “It bought time to understand the science, and it gave time to analyze the variant.

U.S. public health agencies have recommended lifting the travel restrictions on the eight African countries because keeping them would not have greatly reduced the number of people infected with Omicron at this point, given the high rates of COVID positivity already.

“We have enough infection in our own country,” said Anthony Fauci. MD, who is President Biden’s top medical adviser and a top infectious disease specialist. “We’re letting in people from other countries that have as much or more infection than the southern African countries.”

In addition, public health officials pointed out that existing vaccines and booster shots are highly effective to fight the Omicron variant and that an Omicron-specific vaccine was not going to be necessary.

“This [travel ban] was not meant to keep Omicron out,” a Biden official said. “We knew we couldn’t do that. The point was to reduce the number of cases coming in: in those early days and weeks.”