US bars travel to eight African countries

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and State Department are advising against travel to eight southern African countries after the White House announced new travel restrictions in response to a new COVID-19 variant.

The CDC raised its travel recommendation to "Level Four: Very High" for South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana while the State Department issued parallel "Do Not Travel" advisories Saturday.

On Monday, the CDC had lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory for South Africa to "Level 1: Low" from "Level 3: High".

Of the eight countries, only Botswana was previously listed as "Level 4".

Omicron, dubbed a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organisation, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease, although experts do not know yet if it will cause more or less severe COVID-19 compared to other strains.

It could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant's mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments are effective against it.

The new variant prompted the White House to announce Friday it would bar nearly all foreign nationals who have been in any of eight countries within the past 14 days from flying to the United States effective Monday at midnight.

Travellers on flights that depart before that time will be allowed to land in the United States. But foreign nationals must be vaccinated and have tested negative within three days.