U.S. and other countries tighten travel rules to try to slow Omicron Spread

By Cooper Polczinski

The spread of the new COVID variant Omicron is of great concern, especially to African countries such as South Africa. The United States, Japan and Malaysia have announced tighter travel restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant as more countries confirmed their first cases.

In response to the new variant, the United States has implemented a travel ban on eight African countries.

The new travel rules come after the Biden Administration was quick to judge the past Trump Administration over similar travel restrictions. A Tweet from Joe Biden’s official Twitter account on March 12, 2020 states, “A wall will not stop the coronavirus. Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it,”.

Nevertheless however, the US along with many other countries have implemented travel restrictions. As of now, some 56 nations have reported restricting travel from outside countries.

These restrictions along with full vaccination status as well as a booster shot are being emphasized by the World Health Organization as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci.