- The US lifted travel restrictions on Eswatini along with other seven Southern African countries
- The White House said the restrictions imposed due to the omicron variant, were no longer necessary
Mbabane: The United States government has lifted travel restrictions on Eswatini along with seven other Southern African countries that were imposed due to the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus, Covid 19. The travel restrictions were lifted with effect from January 01, 2022.
The temporary curbs were imposed in late November after the omicron variant of the coronavirus was detected by South African scientists. The eight Southern African countries are South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Malawi.
The White House said the restrictions, imposed due to the omicron variant, were no longer necessary. A spokesman said “the restrictions gave us time to understand omicron and we know our existing vaccines work against it”
According to United States immigration regulations all airline passengers to the United States ages two years and older, regardless of vaccination status or citizenship, must provide a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within one calendar day of travel. A test taken one day, for example, would be valid for a flight taken anytime the following day. Alternatively, travelers to the United States may provide documentation from a licensed health care provider of having recovered from COVID-19 in the 90 days preceding travel.
The lifting of the restrictions by the United States government follows a decision by the United Kingdom to lift a similar ban on Eswatini and its Southern African neighbors. The United Kingdom lifted the ban last month.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that the ban would be lifted since the country had achieved community transmission of omicron.
“Now that there is community transmission of omicron in the U.K. and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of omicron from abroad,” he said.
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