New cases were also reported in Ghana, South Korea, Ireland, and Brazil. ![]() Saudi Arabia confirmed its first known case Wednesday in a traveler who had been to north, not south, Africa, according to Saudi state media. from South Africa, testing positive for the variant on Nov. That person had recently traveled to the U.S. New cases of the variant continue to emerge, including in the U.S., where an Omicron-infected patient was confirmed in California on Wednesday. Visitors will have to quarantine until a negative COVID test result is achieved. Fiji, on the other hand, opened its borders to international travelers after being closed since May 2020. South Australia on Wednesday announced that, immediately, all international travelers would have to quarantine in its dedicated hotels for 14 days, regardless of their vaccination status, to try to keep Omicron at bay. (Unvaccinated travelers were already required to take a test within 24 hours.) The White House is also considering requiring travelers to take a COVID test within a few days of arrival, but it is not clear if they would have to quarantine until the results are back, as is the practice in places like the U.K. by requiring they get a COVID-19 test 24 hours before travel instead of 72 hours, which has been the rule for vaccinated travelers. The Biden administration confirmed it is weighing tightening entrance restrictions on international travelers into the U.S. There’s Only One Surefire Way to Stop Variants Like Omicron There has not yet been a death attributed to the Omicron strain reported. Other European nations are mulling similar changes on the back of news the the virus may not have originated there at all. Neither the Netherlands or Nigeria are included in most travel bans, including into the United States.įrance, which was quick to ban travel from southern Africa, said Wednesday it would reopen flights to the banned nations on Dec. In both countries, those who had the disease were either asymptomatic or had mild cases. The Netherlands also found the variant in samples days before it was discovered in South Africa. ![]() Nigeria announced Wednesday that a look back through samples taken in October show Omicron was already present then. More than 70 countries now have travel restrictions that primarily target southern African nations, even though new evidence suggests that the variant was found elsewhere long before South Africa’s scientists spotted it in a lab.
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