By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
US President Joe Biden issued a presidential proclamation Tuesday revoking a proclamation put in place last month that enacted travel restrictions on eight southern African nations, including South Africa.
The proclamation repeals the ban as of 12:01 a.m on December 31.
Fullview previously reported Biden’s intent to lift the restrictions.
The travel restrictions had come under fire across the globe, described by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres as “travel apartheid.” Biden administration officials repeatedly defended the move as an action to give the US more time to understand the variant and its spread.
“The travel restrictions imposed by that proclamation are no longer necessary to protect the public health,” Biden said in the new proclamation.
Tuesday’s proclamation noted that scientists have determined that people vaccinated against Covid-19 “are protected against severe disease and hospitalization from the Omicron variant.”
The variant was announced by South African scientists at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and led to countries swiftly closing their borders to South Africa.
“Since I issued that [travel ban], [American] health officials, in collaboration with the South African scientists who originally reported the variant, have made substantial progress in understanding the Omicron variant.
“In light of these changed circumstances, and based on the recommendation of the CDC, I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to revoke [the ban]. The travel restrictions imposed by that proclamation are no longer necessary to protect public health,” he said.
The travel ban was also extended to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Biden explained that the travel ban was aimed at slowing the spread of the variant and enable the US to implement measures to fight the variant.
“On the same day that the World Health Organisation classified the Omicron variant as a variant of concern…I issued [travel restrictions]. That proclamation generally suspended and restricted the entry into the United States of non-citizens of the United States who were physically present within [Southern Africa].
“I took that action to slow the spread of the Omicron variant into the United States and to enable the United States to implement appropriate mitigation measures while new information emerged about the variant,” Biden said.