The Joe Biden administration will lift the ban on travel between the US and eight southern African countries at midnight on Dec. 31, the White House reported on Friday (24).
The decision reverses restrictions imposed last month to combat the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Leaders in African countries called the ban unfair and discriminatory, saying it was done without a scientific basis.
Foreign nationals barred from entering the US because they were in one of those countries in the previous 14 days will be allowed again as of 12:01 am on Dec. 31, a senior US government official told Reuters news agency.
On November 29, the US barred entry to nearly all non-US citizens who had recently been to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.
The decision to lift the restrictions was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The restrictions gave us time to understand omicron and we know that our existing vaccines work against omicron, especially with the booster dose,” said Kevin Munoz, a White House spokesman, on social media.
“This was not done to keep the omicron out. We knew we couldn’t do that. The aim was to reduce the number of cases that arrived in those first days and weeks,” added Munoz.
The restrictions did not prevent flights or Americans from returning from southern Africa.
US public health agencies had recommended lifting the travel restrictions because maintaining them would not have a significant impact on the country’s cases, given the current widespread transmission, the confidence that a specific omicron vaccine would not be needed, and the fact that existing vaccines and booster doses are effective.
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