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Several countries restrict travel from Southern Africa due to new variant of Covid-19, Omicron
November 27, 2021

Countries around the world have restricted travel from southern African countries in an effort to contain a new variant of Covid-19, Omicron. In a statement, the World Health Organization said that Omicron has an increased re-infection risk.

The statement said the number of cases of this variant appeared to be increasing in almost all of South Africa's provinces. This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.

The WHO said it would take a few weeks to understand the impact of the new variant, as scientists worked to determine how transmissible it was.

The United States, Britian and other countries that have announced travel restrictions and measures include Australia, Japan, Iran, Canada, Thailand Brazil, India and Saudi Arabia have also announced restrictions including suspension of flights to and from the South Africa states.